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According to Mind Hacks:
Sleep, it seems, is a dangerous pastime. The less sleep you get, the greater your chances of becoming obese; the more sleep you get, the greater your chances of developing Parkinson’s disease.
These and other health-related studies are starting to get depressing because they seem to tell us that no matter what, we’re out of luck. “Drink wine.” “No, don’t drink wine.” “Have some chocolate.” “No wait, don’t.” I think I’ll choose wine, chocolate and sleep and move to Vanuatu so I don’t have to worry about it.
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If I were you I wouldn’t adjust my alarm clock just yet — it looks like there’s a Dreaded Third Thing at work in both of these studies, making it look like sleep (or the lack of it) is causing these phenomena when that’s not necessarily the case. The Parkinson’s study, for instance: Maybe it’s not that sleeping more gives you Parkinson’s; instead, maybe people who have a genetic predisposition to Parkinson’s also have a genetically determined need for more sleep. (This would explain why night-shift workers have a lower risk of Parkinson’s: If you’re naturally sleepy/Parkinson’s-prone you’re not going to want to work the night shift.) Or with obesity: Sure, kids who get plenty of sleep are generally thinner than sleep-deprived kids. But maybe the reason thin kids sleep more is because they’re exhausted from running around all day and getting exercise — which is why they’re thin in the first place.
posted by Mary on 7-14-2006 at 6:15 am