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Sleep and mortality

Analyzing the effectiveness of daily sleep duration in stratifying mortality risk

2020/09/30

For over 50 years, doctors and scientists have recognized “the critical importance of sleep to good health and life.”1  Though initial studies focused on sleep deprivation, the full body of research now shows adverse health impacts for both overly short and long sleep. Atypical sleep duration is associated with adverse medical conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, obesity and physiological stress, along with resultant higher mortality; age, gender and socioeconomic status mediates these relationships.2

This article by Munich Re Life US analyzes the effectiveness of daily sleep duration in stratifying the mortality risk profile of a U.S. insured population simulated from National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) survey data.

1  Shepard, J. W., Jr, Buysse, D. J., Chesson, A. L., Jr, Dement, W. C., Goldberg, R., Guilleminault, C., Harris, C. D., Iber, C., Mignot, E., Mitler, M. M., Moore, K. E., Phillips, B. A., Quan, S. F., Rosenberg, R. S., Roth, T., Schmidt, H. S., Silber, M. H., Walsh, J. K., & White, D. P. (2005). History of the development of sleep medicine in the United States.  Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine,  1(1), 61–82.  Retrieved from  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2413168/ 2  Grandner MA, H. L. (2010). Mortality associated with short sleep duration: The evidence, the possible mechanisms, and the future. Sleep Med Rev, 191–203.  Retrieved from  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19932976/
Contact the authors
Adnan Haque
Adnan Haque
Second Vice President
Integrated Analytics
Munich Re North America Life
Julia Druce
Julia Druce
Senior Data Scientist
Integrated Analytics