Smokers may get fewer hours of sleep and have less restful slumber than non-smokers, according to a German study that looked at more than two thousand people. Researchers whose work appeared in the journal Addiction Biology found that of nearly 1,100 smokers surveyed, 17 percent got fewer than six hours of sleep each night and 28 percent reported "disturbed" sleep quality.
That compared with rates of seven percent and 19 percent respectively among more than 1,200 non-smokers who were also surveyed, said lead researcher Stefan Cohrs, of Charite Berlin medical school in Germany.
"This study demonstrates for the first time an elevated prevalence of sleep disturbance in smokers compared with non-smokers in a population without lifetime history of psychiatric disorders even after controlling for potentially relevant risk factors," Cohrs and his colleagues wrote. The findings cannot prove that smoking directly impairs sleep, since smokers may have other habits that could affect their shut-eye such as staying up late to watch TV or getting little exercise, Cohrs told Reuters Health in an email.
But there is also reason to believe the stimulating effects of nicotine may be to blame.
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