02/04/2019 / By Michelle Simmons
It is often recommended for adults to have seven to eight hours of sleep each day for good health. However, some people stay up late at night to work, study, or even have fun. For some, it could be due to medical reasons like sleeping problems.
No matter the reason, studies have shown that not having a good night’s sleep takes a toll on their health.
One of the consequences of sleeping for shorter hours, particularly six hours or less, is having a greater chance of being dehydrated, according to a study published in the journal Sleep.
Dehydration disrupts various systems and functions of the body, such as cognition, mood, physical performance, and many more. If dehydration is prolonged, it can result in more serious problems, such as an increased risk of urinary tract infections and kidney stones. So, if you feel unwell or tired the day after having a shorter sleep, it may be due to dehydration, and not poor sleep alone. With these findings, the study suggests for people to drink more water. (Related: Dehydration causes your brain SWELL, making it harder for you to complete everyday tasks.)
Carried out by researchers from Penn State University, the study examined the effect of sleep on hydration status and risk of dehydration in American and Chinese adults. The researchers analyzed a total of three samples with over 20,000 adults; two samples of adults through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and one sample of adults through the Chinese Kailuan Study.
The researchers asked the participants about their sleeping habits through a survey. To measure the hydration of the participants, the researchers collected urine samples, which serve as biomarkers for hydration, from the participants.
The results showed that those who reported having six hours of sleep had dramatically more concentrated urine and 16 to 59 greater chances of being dehydrated compared to those who reported having eight hours of sleep regularly at night.
Penn State researchers believe that this may be due to the way the hormonal system of the body regulates hydration. Vasopressin, which is a hormone that helps regulate the body’s hydration status, is released both more rapidly and later on in the sleep cycle.
“So, if you’re waking up earlier, you might miss that window in which more of the hormone is released, causing a disruption in the body’s hydration,” explained Asher Rosinger, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State.
It can’t be stressed enough: Sleep plays a role in many bodily functions. During sleep, the brain signals the body to release hormones and compounds that help:
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