THE alarm clock in Thom Stys' bedroom goes off at 4 a.m. every weekday, a scant four to five hours after his head hits the pillow. By 5 a.m., he's left his Chino Hills home for the freeway, and before the sun is up, he's at his desk in Long Beach, making a round of phone calls to clients in Europe. "If I left later, it would take me an hour and a half to get to work," says the 57-year-old vice president of an aerospace forging company. "I simply can't afford to spend time caught up in freeway traffic."
Advertisement
Rest: It's required
Adequate sleep is as crucial to a healthy life as diet and exercise, researchers are finding.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday October 10, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 44 words Type of Material: Correction
Sleep research: An image of a woman asleep with a cat in the background that appeared on Page A3 and on the cover of Monday's Health section accompanying an article on sleep research was posed and should have been labeled as a photo illustration.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Monday October 16, 2006 Home Edition Health Part F Page 13 Features Desk 1 inches; 47 words Type of Material: Correction
Sleep research: An image of a woman asleep with a cat in the background that appeared on Oct. 8's Page A3 and on the cover of last week's Health section accompanying an article on sleep research was posed and should have been labeled as a photo illustration.
Advertisement
Most working blokes know that the more they work, the less they sleep. What they may not know is that the more time they spend in their cars, the less they sleep. Drive time -- not television viewing, computer addiction or exercise -- is second only to hours on the job as a reason people don't get the shut-eye they need.
"The most deadly combination," says David F. Dinges, chief of the division of sleep and chronobiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, "would be long commute time, long work hours and living in a place where you have to get in the car and drive to get anything."
Sound like home?
The combination is deadly because a good night's sleep now appears to be every bit as important to good health and long life as a nutritious diet and regular exercise.
"Sleep is in the top three," says Dinges. "And I think it's No. 1. Sleep is a biological imperative and not getting enough has health-related costs."
In April, the Institute of Medicine issued a report confirming links between sleep deprivation and an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack and stroke.
Some scientists are exploring possible connections between inadequate sleep and a decline in immune function.
The Archives of Internal Medicine devoted its Sept. 18 issue to the relationship between sleep and health. An editorial called for assessment of sleep habits as a standard part of all medical checkups.
That's because short sleep can hasten the arrival of the inevitable long sleep. The largest study of sleep duration and mortality was published in February 2002 in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The Cancer Prevention Study II of the American Cancer Society followed more than a million participants for six years. The best survival was found among those who slept about seven hours a night, the worst among those who slept less than 4.5 hours. Too much sleep -- nine hours or more -- also was associated with a higher risk of mortality.
