Having trouble sleeping? Try giving up smoking…

[5 February 2008 - 12h09]
[mis à jour le 7 February 2008 à 12h08]

In addition to the many other harmful effects that smoking has on our health, it also affects our sleep, in fact smokers quite simply sleep less than non-smokers. The reason for this is the lack of nicotine that results from their night-time abstinence.

Trouble getting to sleep and achieving deep sleep are 4 times more common among smokers. A research team at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, in the United States, compared the sleep experience of 40 smokers and 40 non-smokers, all in good health and none of whom were taking sleeping tablets.

Until now, most of the studies carried out in this field relied on the gathering of subjective data, eg comments such as “I slept well (or badly)…” This study, however, is based on the analysis of polysomnographic traces of patients. Their cardiac and respiratory rhythms were recorded continuously throughout the night in order to analyse the different phases of sleep.

Using these rigorously objective scientific criteria, the author discovered that the problems most frequently observed among smokers occurred in the early part of the night. “The nicotine inhaled at the end of the day (at first) acts as a stimulant, which explains why smokers have so much trouble getting to sleep”, the author states.

Later in the night, the opposite is true: it is the lack of nicotine that poses a problem for smokers. Their phases of deep sleep are shorter compared with those of non-smokers. “These results are further arguments for giving up tobacco … and above all for never falling into the trap of trying that first cigarette”.

Source : Chest, 4 February 2008

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