Sleeping too much doubles your risk of Parkinson's

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by FIONA MacRAE, Daily Mail 09:09am 11th July 2006

 

Sleeping too long could be bad for your health, new research shows. A team of

scientists have found that people who sleep at least nine hours a night are

almost twice as likely to develop Parkinson's disease as those who get by on six

hours or less.

 

The U.S. study also showed that working night shifts may help ward off the

devastating condition, which affects 120,000 people in Britain, with 10,000

cases diagnosed a year.

 

The researchers from the National Institutes of Health, a U.S. government body,

tracked the health of 80,000 nurses for 24 years.

 

The women, who were all free of Parkinson's at the start of the study, were

asked how long they tended to sleep and how often they worked night shifts.

 

They were also weighed and asked about their smoking and dietary habits. By the

end of the study, 181 had developed Parkinson's.

 

Analysis showed that the more someone slept, the higher their risk of developing

the disease.

 

Most at risk were those who slept at least nine hours a night. These women were

80 per cent more likely to have been diagnosed with the condition than those who

slept six hours or less.

 

Those who slept for eight hours were 60 per cent more likely to develop the

disease, while seven hours' sleep a night raised the risk by 10 per cent.

 

While lots of sleep raised the risk, working night shifts reduced it. And the

longer they did night shifts, the lower the risk.

 

Those who did a minimum of three night shifts a month for at least 15 years were

half as likely to develop Parkinson's as those who always worked days.

 

The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, is the first to

link shift work and Parkinson's.

 

Previous studies have shown that night-shift workers have lower levels of the

hormones melatonin and oestradiol. At higher levels, they may contribute towards

the development of Parkinson's.

 

Now scientists have to work out why sleeping too much may contribute to the

development of the disease. It is possible the need to sleep a lot is an early

symptom of the condition. 'These findings are puzzling,' says Dr Honglei Chen,

the lead researcher.

 

'We do not have good biological explanations for the results. Further research

is needed to replicate our results and explore the mechanisms.'

 

Actor Michael J. Fox is the most well-known sufferer of the degenerative brain

disease. He was diagnosed at the age of 30; most people with the condition

develop it after the age of 50.

 

Symptoms include tremors, muscle stiffness and a gradual slowing down of the

body.

 

As the disease progresses, speech, facial expression and balance can be

affected. Some people end up in a wheelchair.