MD Anderson Cancer Center: Poor Sleep Linked to Elevated Cancer Risk in Young Adults

According to The Guardian, two studies led by Houston's MD Anderson Cancer Center and presented this year at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago analyzed health data on more than 18 million U.S. adults aged 18 to 50. The studies show that over the past 30 years, cancer cases among young people have risen by nearly 80%.

Globally, early-onset cancer cases rose from 1.82 million in 1990 to 3.26 million in 2019, while cancer mortality among people in their 40s, 30s, and younger increased by 27%. Further research suggests that irregular sleep patterns in young people may be associated with a higher risk of cancer.

The researchers found that people with poor sleep habits were more likely to develop early-onset colorectal, breast, uterine, or ovarian cancer. In some cases, people under 50 diagnosed with insomnia were three times as likely to develop cancer within five years as the general population.

The researchers stated: "These findings suggest that sleep disturbance may be a clinically meaningful and potentially modifiable risk factor in the stratification of early-onset cancer risk, and merits further investigation."

In my view, there may be another interpretation of the above studies: poor sleep may itself be one of the early signs that malignant transformation is under way in the body. Whichever of the two explanations holds, both imply that there is some association between poor sleep and cancer.

As human lifestyles have changed, the daily routines of today's young people differ greatly from those of their parents and grandparents. Few people still keep the habit of going to bed early and rising early; most now go to bed late and get up late.

Young people's sleep is being disturbed by a growing number of factors: heavy work pressure, an ever-richer nightlife, and the widespread use of electronic devices are all disrupting the natural sleep-wake rhythms that humans evolved over a long period.

These factors have left many people with sleep problems. Insomnia is associated with a range of chronic diseases, including cancer, obesity, diabetes, depression, and dementia. If people want to live more healthily, they need to adjust their daily routines.

These two MD Anderson studies also offer some new ideas for cancer treatment: first, more early cancer screening programs should be offered to insomniacs, so that early cancers that may be developing in them can be detected sooner; second, when treating cancer, consideration should also be given to taking effective measures to improve patients' sleep quality, and treating insomnia should be included as one of the goals of comprehensive cancer care.

In my own years of clinical practice, I have indeed found that the proportion of insomniacs among cancer patients is higher than in the general population. If we can effectively improve cancer patients' sleep quality, it will help somewhat in controlling the progression of their disease.

But treating insomnia is itself a major challenge; the causes of insomnia differ from patient to patient, and it is difficult to use the same treatment regimen to resolve the sleep disturbance of every insomniac.

In recent years, because of family members around me, I have paid increasing attention to the problem of insomnia. I have compiled and published many approaches to resolving it; those who suffer from insomnia can look through my older articles for the treatment plans I have assembled.