What Do Obama, McCain, And Breast Cancer Have in Common
While everyone might be focused on Obama or McCain and who will be the new president of the United States, that will soon pass and we should return our focus to breast cancer and some of the known risks associated with it. But what do Obama, McCain, and breast cancer have in common? Lack of sleep.
According to the Telegraph, research of almost 24,000 Japanese woman from the age of 40 to 79 were followed for more than eight years and what scientists learned is that when sleep is disrupted we produce less melatonin and melatonin has been linked to protecting us from many forms of cancer including breast cancer.
Oestrogen is also directly linked to breast cancer and what researchers at the University Graduate School of Medicine in Sendai, Japan found isn that lack of proper sleep results in the production of less oestrogen and melatonin. 9 hours of sleep reduces ones risk of cancer by half. At least that’s what they found with prostate cancer in men.
It’s believed that the same type of quality sleep patterns affect womens breast cancer in the same manner. And that’s really not so suprising since lack of proper sleep has been blamed for many diseases and illnesses.
Now ladies don’t start stressing yet. I know what you’re thinking all those years of being up during the night with babies, and sick children – have they significantly increased your risk of developing breast cancer. Actually it doesn’t appear so since according to studies to date you need to drop below 5 hours of sleep nightly. That said it’s important that you get enough quality sleep to stay healthy – period!
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Cancer Research UK’s science information manager, Henry Scowcroft, said: “The current evidence suggests sleeping and working patterns might have a small effect on the risk of breast cancer.
“But it’s too early to tell whether this effect is important when compared with other known lifestyle risk factors like weight, exercise and alcohol consumption.”
Jim Horne, a professor of sleep medicine at Loughborough University, criticised the study.
He said: “The number of cancer cases in this study is very small and I suspect the risk only starts increasing under five hours a night.
“Most women have nothing to worry about and there is no good evidence that sleeping for longer helps to prevent breast cancer.”
Last week it was reported that vigorous housework can cut the risk of developing breast cancer by almost a third, according to the US National Institutes of Health.
Strenuous exercise, including scrubbing floors, can significantly reduce the chance of developing the disease, which affects 45,000 women in Britain every year.
