Getting this much sleep could slash your risk of prostate cancer

augustine ikenwa

April 7, 2017 9:59 AM

The importance of a good night's sleep is well-known, but the results of a recent study from the American Cancer Society may provide even further evidence of the fact.

Having enough sleep could reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

Anything less, and your chances may increase dramatically

Per The Daily Mail, the ACS used two long-term studies that tracked the health and sleeping habits of hundreds of thousands of men from 1950 to 1972, and from 1982 to 2012.

Though all were cancer-free to begin with, more than 1,500 men succumbed to the cancer in the first, while over 8,700 did in the second.

To account for the change, researchers dug into their sleeping habits to discover any patterns. They eventually found that men under 65 years of age who only slept for between three and five hours per night wound up becoming 55 percent more likely to have prostate cancer than those who slept seven hours per night.

For men over 65, sleep made no difference in their chances of eventually dying from the cancer.

Their findings still need to be corroborated in other studies, but the ACS is hopeful that it could provide significant medical insights about the benefits of sleep.

So, we can't point to lack of sleep as an exact cause for prostate cancer yet. After all, as we've pointed out in the past, your individual sleep needs are based on a variety of personal factors.

But if you're still wondering how you can get better sleep, here's what you can do starting tonight.

augustine ikenwa