Does the duration of sleep affect the onset of menopause? To examine this, investigators included 3,090 premenopausal Japanese women, aged 35-56 years, who were a part of the Takayama study which started in 1992 with residents of Takayama in Japan. The objective of the Takayama study was to define factors, lifestyle/dietary associated with various diseases such as cancer. A questionnaire was used to elicit information about usual sleep duration at the time of enrolment, based on which the participants were categorized into three groups of ≤6 hours, 8 hours and ≥9 hours. The multivariable analysis adjusted for potential confounders such as age, parity, body mass index, smoking status, education level and irregular menstrual cycle.

A total of 869 women reported sleeping for 6 hours or less every night; 1482 women reported 7 hours of sleep, 635 reported sleeping for 8 hours, while 104 women reported ≥9 hours of sleep. Sixty-nine women slept for ≥5 hours. Over the follow-up duration of 10 years, 1776 women experienced natural menopause, defined as no menstruation for a minimum of one year. Women who slept for 6 hours or less were significantly more likely to have menopause at a later age with a hazard ratio of 0.88. The hazard ratio increased by 1.03 for every extra hour of sleep.

These findings published in the April 2023 issue of the journal Menopause show that sleep duration affects the onset of menopause and shorter sleep duration was linked to later age of menopause.

Reference

1. Nagata C, et al. Sleep duration and the onset of menopause in Japanese women. Menopause. 2023 Apr 1;30(4):437-440. doi: 10.1097/GME.0000000000002156.