Getting More Sleep Could Reduce your Risk for Breast Cancer

It is no secret that breast cancer is the most common cancer experienced by women around the world.  So much research and funding, like that of the Susan G. Komen foundation, is focused on allocating efforts toward a cure.  While this effort is mighty, necessary, and surely commendable, what if we could prevent breast cancer?  There would be no need to have a Race For The Cure, no need for painful mammograms, and no need to Think Pink in October.

The study by M. Kakizaki analyzed the association between sleep duration and breast cancer risk in a Japanese female population.  The multi-year study included almost 24,000 women who answered a one-time sleep duration questionnaire, indicating which of 4 TST (total sleep time) gr
oups they belonged to: 9+ hours/ day, 8 hours, 7 hours, and 6- hours/ day.  Results showed an inverse relationship between sleep duration and risk for breast cancer.  Baseline heart rate was shown to be higher in those who reported less sleep duration as well.  Therefore, those reporting an average of less than 6 hours of sleep per night showed both the highest heart rate and highest risk for breast cancer.

Conceding that study procedures included the sometimes-unreliable method of questionnaire reporting for data collection, and that confounding variables such as sleep onset latency (SOL) or sleep disorders were not controlled for, Kakizaki made a strong and alarming claim about sleep health: get enough nightly sleep if you do not want to increase your risk for breast cancer.

My grandmother had a mastectomy, survived breast cancer, and she is alive at the ripe old of 95 today: my family is blessed and lucky to still have her.  If it is true that more sleep reduces one's risk of developing breast cancer, or any cancer for that matter, then I would ask that more research and resources be allocated to this area of study.  Those who have not been as lucky as we have, families who have lost loved ones to breast cancer, need more specific direction.  Can we develop a specific sleep regimen to recommend for women over 50, for example, that mathematically would reduce breast cancer risk?  Taking into consideration all the unknown factors surrounding breast cancer incidence, we should at least be able to provide guidance for habits that promote healthy sleep -- in turn counteracting associated findings like increased heart rate in sleep-deprived and at-risk (for cancer) individuals.

To the best of my knowledge, my grandmother had healthy sleep habits throughout her adulthood, and good average nightly TST, yet she developed breast cancer.  If Kakizaki's finding is accurate, and one could claim that reduced sleep leads to increased risk for breast cancer, then what was my grandmother doing incorrectly in her nightly routine to avoid the mastectomy?


This finding, however lightly or seriously it is to be taken, nonetheless has captured my attention and has again rekindled my desire to improve my sleep habits.  I have been sleeping about the same duration each night, but not enough, averaging perhaps 6-7 hours.  As an involved college student, I offer that even though some students would report worse yet nightly TST, I can do better.  My nighttime routine has definitely improved since the beginning of the semester, but I look forward to more progress in both sleep quality and duration throughout the next few weeks...if for no other reason, so I can give a good sleep health report to my grandmother the next time I am able to talk with her.