Close X
Thursday, December 12, 2024
ADVT 
Health

Insomnia triples risk of motor accident deaths

Darpan News Desk IANS, 01 Nov, 2014 08:20 AM
    Developing a healthy sleeping habit could be a life saviour as researchers have found that insomnia significantly increases risk of death caused by motor vehicle crashes and other unintentional fatal injuries.
     
    People with all symptoms of insomnia were 2.8 times more likely to die from a fatal injury than those with no insomnia symptoms, even after adjusting for potential confounders such as alcohol consumption and daily use of sleep medication.
     
    "Our results suggest that a large proportion of unintentional fatal injuries and fatal motor vehicle injuries could have been prevented in the absence of insomnia," said lead author Lars Laugsand from Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.
     
    Risk of unintentional fatal injury increases in a dose-dependent manner with the number of insomnia symptoms present, the findings showed.
     
    Among the insomnia symptoms, difficulty falling asleep appeared to have the strongest and most robust association with fatal injuries.
     
    People who almost always had difficulty falling asleep were more than two times more likely to die from a motor vehicle injury and over 1.5 times more likely to die from any fatal injury than people who never had trouble initiating sleep, the findings showed.
     
    Further analysis found that self-reported difficulty in falling asleep contributed to 34 percent of motor vehicle deaths and eight percent of all unintentional fatal injuries, which could have been prevented in the absence of insomnia.
     
    "Increasing public health awareness about insomnia and identifying and treating people with insomnia may be important in preventing unintentional fatal injuries," Laugsand added.
     
    The study involved analysis of population-based survey data from 54,399 men and women between 20 and 89 years of age.
     
    The study appeared in the journal Sleep.

    MORE Health ARTICLES

    Neuronal 'sweet spot' can curb obesity

    Neuronal 'sweet spot' can curb obesity
    Preventing weight gain, obesity and diabetes could be as simple as keeping a nuclear receptor from being activated in a small part of the brain, says a new study....

    Neuronal 'sweet spot' can curb obesity

    First molecular map to detect vision loss created

    First molecular map to detect vision loss created
    An Indian-origin researcher-led team has created the most detailed map to date of a region of the human eye, long associated with blinding diseases...

    First molecular map to detect vision loss created

    Revealed: Why brain tumours are more common in men

    Revealed: Why brain tumours are more common in men
    The absence of a protein known to reduce cancer risk can explain why brain tumours occur more often in males and are more harmful than similar tumours in females....

    Revealed: Why brain tumours are more common in men

    In-flight infants at greater death risk: Study

    In-flight infants at greater death risk: Study
    If we believe a shocking in-flight pattern revealed by researchers, lap infants are at greater risk of dying on board owing to bad sleeping arrangements....

    In-flight infants at greater death risk: Study

    Herbal anti-malaria drug may control asthma

    Herbal anti-malaria drug may control asthma
    According to researchers from National University of Singapore (NUS), the "artesunate" herbal drug can herald better treatment outcomes than other...

    Herbal anti-malaria drug may control asthma

    Probiotics crucial for super gut health

    Probiotics crucial for super gut health
    The bacteria that aid in digestion help keep the intestinal lining intact, scientists say, adding that daily probiotics hold the key to ward off inflammatory...

    Probiotics crucial for super gut health