Getting less sleep or an irregular sleeping pattern can give way to a lot of health problems. A new study has found that it can now even be associated with a high risk of getting cancer.
During the research, the study found that poor sleeping habits or an irregular sleep pattern resulted in cancer in mice. The findings may raise important issues like managing work and health with patients prone to contracting cancer, a report by Echo Examiner stated on Tuesday.
The researchers also suggested that those women who have a family history of breast cancer should avoid working in shifts that causes sleep irregularity. However, researchers concluded that more study is needed on the issue to further the conclusion.
In order to reach the findings, the researchers delayed the body clock of mice by 12 hours every week for a year. At the end of the year, the study concluded that the mice with the disrupted sleeping patterns get tumours eight weeks earlier than the norm. Usually, mice develop tumours after 50 weeks.
To come to their conclusions, researchers delayed the body clock of mice by 12 hours every week for a year. Typically, all mice would get tumors at 50 weeks, but those with their sleeping patterns disrupted saw them develop eight weeks earlier.
The study also states that an irregular sleep pattern can also result in weight gain. The research found that the animals who had bad sleeping habits were 20% heavier even though they consumed the same amount of food as the ones with a regular sleep pattern. The researchers have pointed out that disruption of the internal rhythm of the body could be behind the cause which can increase the risk of the body contracting certain diseases.
The study has been published in the journal Current Biology.