Short sleep duration is associated with shorter telomere length in healthy men: findings from the Whitehall II cohort study.

Shorter telomere length and poor sleep are more prevalent at older ages, but their relationship is uncertain. This study explored associations between sleep duration and telomere length in a sample of healthy middle and early old age people.Participants were 434 men and women aged 63.3 years on aver...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Marta Jackowska, Mark Hamer, Livia A Carvalho, Jorge D Erusalimsky, Lee Butcher, Andrew Steptoe
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3483149?pdf=render
id doaj-d601dda0b27d4cedb6a74f8dc0b5e6ff
record_format Article
spelling doaj-d601dda0b27d4cedb6a74f8dc0b5e6ff2020-11-25T01:11:11ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-01710e4729210.1371/journal.pone.0047292Short sleep duration is associated with shorter telomere length in healthy men: findings from the Whitehall II cohort study.Marta JackowskaMark HamerLivia A CarvalhoJorge D ErusalimskyLee ButcherAndrew SteptoeShorter telomere length and poor sleep are more prevalent at older ages, but their relationship is uncertain. This study explored associations between sleep duration and telomere length in a sample of healthy middle and early old age people.Participants were 434 men and women aged 63.3 years on average drawn from the Whitehall II cohort study. Sleep duration was measured by self-report.There was a linear association between sleep duration and leukocyte telomere length in men but not in women (P = 0.035). Men reporting shorter sleep duration had shorter telomeres, independently of age, body mass index, smoking, educational attainment, current employment, cynical hostility scores and depressive symptoms. Telomeres were on average 6% shorter in men sleeping 5 hours or fewer compared with those sleeping more than 7 hours per night.This study adds to the growing literature relating sleep duration with biomarkers of aging, and suggests that shortening of telomeres might reflect mechanisms through which short sleep contributes to pathological conditions in older men.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3483149?pdf=render
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Marta Jackowska
Mark Hamer
Livia A Carvalho
Jorge D Erusalimsky
Lee Butcher
Andrew Steptoe
spellingShingle Marta Jackowska
Mark Hamer
Livia A Carvalho
Jorge D Erusalimsky
Lee Butcher
Andrew Steptoe
Short sleep duration is associated with shorter telomere length in healthy men: findings from the Whitehall II cohort study.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Marta Jackowska
Mark Hamer
Livia A Carvalho
Jorge D Erusalimsky
Lee Butcher
Andrew Steptoe
author_sort Marta Jackowska
title Short sleep duration is associated with shorter telomere length in healthy men: findings from the Whitehall II cohort study.
title_short Short sleep duration is associated with shorter telomere length in healthy men: findings from the Whitehall II cohort study.
title_full Short sleep duration is associated with shorter telomere length in healthy men: findings from the Whitehall II cohort study.
title_fullStr Short sleep duration is associated with shorter telomere length in healthy men: findings from the Whitehall II cohort study.
title_full_unstemmed Short sleep duration is associated with shorter telomere length in healthy men: findings from the Whitehall II cohort study.
title_sort short sleep duration is associated with shorter telomere length in healthy men: findings from the whitehall ii cohort study.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2012-01-01
description Shorter telomere length and poor sleep are more prevalent at older ages, but their relationship is uncertain. This study explored associations between sleep duration and telomere length in a sample of healthy middle and early old age people.Participants were 434 men and women aged 63.3 years on average drawn from the Whitehall II cohort study. Sleep duration was measured by self-report.There was a linear association between sleep duration and leukocyte telomere length in men but not in women (P = 0.035). Men reporting shorter sleep duration had shorter telomeres, independently of age, body mass index, smoking, educational attainment, current employment, cynical hostility scores and depressive symptoms. Telomeres were on average 6% shorter in men sleeping 5 hours or fewer compared with those sleeping more than 7 hours per night.This study adds to the growing literature relating sleep duration with biomarkers of aging, and suggests that shortening of telomeres might reflect mechanisms through which short sleep contributes to pathological conditions in older men.
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3483149?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT martajackowska shortsleepdurationisassociatedwithshortertelomerelengthinhealthymenfindingsfromthewhitehalliicohortstudy
AT markhamer shortsleepdurationisassociatedwithshortertelomerelengthinhealthymenfindingsfromthewhitehalliicohortstudy
AT liviaacarvalho shortsleepdurationisassociatedwithshortertelomerelengthinhealthymenfindingsfromthewhitehalliicohortstudy
AT jorgederusalimsky shortsleepdurationisassociatedwithshortertelomerelengthinhealthymenfindingsfromthewhitehalliicohortstudy
AT leebutcher shortsleepdurationisassociatedwithshortertelomerelengthinhealthymenfindingsfromthewhitehalliicohortstudy
AT andrewsteptoe shortsleepdurationisassociatedwithshortertelomerelengthinhealthymenfindingsfromthewhitehalliicohortstudy
_version_ 1725172471140712448