Most Australians are not getting enough sleep, a phenomenon likely to be impacting other areas of their physical and mental health.
New research by The Banyans Healthcare Group has revealed that over half of Australians (57%) have struggled to sleep properly over the last year, with nearly one in two (48%) saying stress is what impacts their sleep the most.
The study, which examined a nationally representative sample of 2018 Australians aged 18-year-and-over in March 2022, also found that women were the most affected, with almost two‐thirds (61%) having difficulty sleeping properly over the last 12 months, and over half (55%) of women losing sleep due to stress.
Most adults require between seven and nine hours of nightly sleep with women generally requiring slightly (11 minutes) more.[1]
Tammy Spiller, a Clinical Nutritionist at The Banyans Group, said that the findings were concerning, given that a lack of quality sleep can contribute to the development of health issues over and above short-term impacts such as mood changes, irritability, daytime fatigue, and increased hunger.
“During sleep our bodies and brains clear out products from the day, digest and stimulate growth and repair. Being highly stressed can cause the adrenal glands to produce high amounts of cortisol and other stress hormones, which in turn can impact sleep considerably,” Ms Spiller said.
“This can lead to a vicious cycle where the stress that originally caused you to lose sleep becomes worse due to your poor‐quality sleep, and over time, high levels of these stress hormones can result in further health issues such as inflammation, excess fat storage, and even depressed brain function.”
She explained that the higher incidence of sleep loss reported among women was unlikely to be purely hormonal.
“Certainly, during perimenopause and menopause the withdrawal of progesterone and swings in estrogen levels can result in difficulty sleeping through the night, and it is common for women to wake periodically during these stages either due lower levels of progesterone or with symptoms like night sweats/flushes,” Ms Spiller explained.
“However, exposure to light late at night, stimulation from social media and TV, meal timing and late-night snacking can also come into the picture.”
Younger women were also more likely to act as the family caregiver and were impacted not only by disturbed nights (getting up for children) but a wider range of daytime activities.
Ms Spiller said that when discussing sleep with clients, it was important to try and understand people’s daily routines.
“What we do in the day can also impact our sleep,” she explained. “Sufficient light during the morning and day can impact the release of compounds required for us to wake properly, focus attention, and feel energised – any time spent outside can also reduce stress and molecules we link to stress and inflammation.
“Most of all, sleep, and all these reactions, including our stress responses, are a result of chemical processes that need raw ingredients and for our body, this comes from nutrient dense meals at approximately the same time each day – giving the body time to digest and absorb the nutrients and minerals it needs.”
As such, Ms Spiller said it is no surprise that in addition to increased stress, another area of health that can be affected by poor quality sleep is our weight.
“Quality sleep isn’t just important for our mental health, but our physical health as well. When addressing health, we look to create a plan that can fit in with your lifestyle, and sleep is usually the first place we start,” she said.
“Getting a good night’s sleep is our body’s chance to heal, and when this doesn’t happen it can be difficult to maintain a healthy weight.
“When your body doesn’t get enough sleep, it can lead to increased oxidative stress, glucose intolerance and even insulin resistance, and all these factors can make it significantly more difficult to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.”
If left untreated, ongoing poor sleep can also lead to an increased risk of developing other chronic health conditions including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and even a greater risk of dementia and some cancers.
Ms Spiller said that addressing sleep is multi-factorial: individuals should see their GP for review, institute sleep hygiene measures and then seek out further support from relevant clinicians.
“It is important to determine if sleep changes are the result of pathological processes or whether poor sleep is leading to the likelihood of chronic conditions – sleep is usually just one factor in the illnesses mentioned above, but without addressing sleep other changes can often be ineffective.
“Often, long before people get to the stage of disease they notice changes in mood, mental health, and cravings.”
The good news, however, is that even after many sleepless nights spent staring at the ceiling or waking up at the crack of dawn, we can still retrain our bodies back into a healthy pattern.
“Our circadian pattern or sleep/wake cycle has a master controller in the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, however most cells in the body include some clock genes,” she explained.
“If we have managed to get ourselves out of a good sleep/wake cycle, it’s possible to entrain it again using light, exercise and meal timing, provided there is no underlying issue or medication interfering with it.”
[1] Burgard SA, Ailshire JA. Gender and Time for Sleep among U.S. Adults. American Sociological Review. 2013;78(1):51-69. doi:10.1177/0003122412472048