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Men who wake up at night are 20 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer, a study reveals.
Researchers found that disturbed sleep patterns could be a major risk for the onset of the disease.
But the analysis did not suggest any link between staying up late and cancer, nor any connection with problems falling asleep.
However, the dangers increase in men who move constantly for at least half an hour when the light goes out.
Prostate cancer affects around 50,000 men each year in the UK and kills almost 12,000.
Men who wake up at night are 20 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer, study reveals
Prostate cancer affects around 50,000 men each year in the UK and kills almost 12,000
The main risk factors include aging, family history of the disease, obesity and ethnicity; Black men are about twice as likely to develop a tumor.
Sleep disruption has previously been proposed as a cause of prostate cancer, but most of the evidence relied on patients accurately remembering how well they had slept, a typically unreliable research method.
Instead, experts at the US National Cancer Institute in Maryland analyzed data from 30,000 British men who had participated in studies in which they wore a watch-like monitor to measure nocturnal movements and sleep disturbances.
None of the men had prostate cancer at the start of the research.
The results, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, showed that those who were awake for 30 minutes or more during the night were 15 to 20 percent more likely to develop a prostate tumor in the future.
Scientists believe the danger comes from disrupting the circadian rhythm (the body’s internal clock), which in turn reduces levels of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin.
Previous studies have linked reduced levels to an increased risk of cancer.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer even lists sleep disruption as a “probable” carcinogen (or cause of cancer).
In a report on the findings, the scientists said: “These results suggest that frequent sleep disturbances may be a risk factor for prostate cancer.”