Lack of sleep ups risk of colon cancer

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Lack of sleep ups risk of colon cancer

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A new study has found that lack of sleep is associated with an increase risk of colon cancer.

09 October,2011 09:05 pm

Lack of sleep has been already linked with higher risks of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and death.Researchers from University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine found that individuals who averaged less than six hours of sleep at night had an almost 50 per cent increase in the risk of colorectal adenomas compared with individuals sleeping at least seven hours per night.Adenomas are a precursor to cancer tumours, and left untreated, they can turn malignant.“A short amount of sleep can now be viewed as a new risk factor for the development of the development of colon cancer,” said Li Li, the studys principal investigator. In the study, patients were surveyed by phone prior to coming into the hospital for scheduled colonoscopies at UH Case Medical Center.They were asked demographic information as well as questions from the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), which obtains information about the patients overall sleep quality during the past month.