Early risers may have a lower risk of breast cancer

TUESDAY, Nov. 6, 2018 (HealthDay News) – A new study suggests that women who love the early hours of the day are less likely to develop breast cancer.

British researchers have analyzed two databases of more than 409,000 women to study the link between sleep characteristics and breast cancer risk.

The study found that women who got up early had a 40% reduced risk of breast cancer compared to night owls.

The data also showed that women who slept longer than the recommended duration of seven to eight hours per night had an increased risk of breast cancer of 20% for each additional hour of sleep.

"We would like to continue the work to study the mechanisms underlying these results, because the estimates obtained are based on questions related to morning or evening preferences, rather than whether people get up earlier or later in the morning. the day, "said Rebecca Richmond. She is a research fellow at the British Cancer Research and Integrative Epidemiology Cancer Program at the University of Bristol.

"In other words, changing your habits may not change your risk of breast cancer – it could be more complex than that," she said.

"However, the results of a protective effect of morning preference on breast cancer risk in our study are consistent with those of previous research …," said Richmond.

"We also found evidence of a causal effect of sleep duration and fragmentation on breast cancer," she added.

The study was presented Tuesday at the annual cancer conference organized by the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) of the United Kingdom, in Glasgow, Scotland.

The study did not demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship between sleep patterns and breast cancer risk.

"These are interesting findings that provide further evidence of how our biological clock and our natural preference for sleep are involved in the onset of breast cancer," said Cliona Clare Kirwan, a member of the Studies Group. NCRI breast clinics. She was not involved in this research.

"We already know that night shift work is associated with a deterioration of mental and physical health.This study provides new evidence suggesting that a disruption of sleep patterns could play a role in the development of cancer", Kirwan said in a press release.

Research presented at meetings is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The US National Cancer Institute has more knowledge about breast cancer prevention.