Regular Binge Drinking Linked to Insomnia in Older Adults

A new study has found that older adults who regularly indulge in binge drinking may suffer from insomnia. The study was led by Johns Hopkins researcher Sarah Canham who made use of data from the 2004 wave of the Health and Retirement Study which involved over 4,970 people over 55 years of age. The participants were asked questions related to their drinking habits and about their insomnia symptoms.

The researchers found that those who drank heavily on an average of at least two days a week were 84 percent more likely to report insomnia symptoms compared to non-binge drinkers.

“It was somewhat surprising that frequent binge drinking (more than 2 binge drinking days per week, on average), but not occasional binge drinking (more than zero, but less than 2 binge drinking days per week, on average) had a significant association with self-reported insomnia symptoms”, Canham said.

The study has been published in the journal SLEEP.


Source-Medindia