The increasing strain on the NHS is one of the biggest challenges facing the UK. With more than a quarter of the population living with long-term health conditions, and related healthcare costs reaching £50.5 billion in 2019, the NHS must look to fresh solutions to help ease the pressure.
What’s more, due to the UK’s ageing population, the number of patients with chronic conditions continues to rise, leading to longer waiting times and limited access to treatments. The problem extends further with recent staff shortages and the aftershocks of COVID-19.
However, one of the biggest opportunities to turn the tide are preventative health strategies. The NHS has had strong success with preventive campaigns for obesity and smoking, showing that prevention improves population health and reduces pressures on healthcare services. There is one other area that should be addressed in preventive health and is often overlooked: sleep.
Why do we overlook sleep health?
Staying in bed or having a lie in can be stigmatised, and getting a lot of sleep is often considered a luxury. However, UCL researchers found that individuals who slept five hours or less at age 50 were 20% more likely to be diagnosed with a chronic disease and 40% more likely to develop chronic conditions over the next 25 years, compared to those who got up to seven hours of sleep. This research becomes more pressing when you consider that one in seven people in the UK sleep fewer than five hours a night. Clearly, as illustrated above, this lack of sleep could have serious health consequences. In fact, ResMed’s sleep survey found that nearly 40% of global respondents had no more than three nights of good sleep in an average week.
Poor sleep is a factor in various chronic health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and gastrointestinal disorders. Research even proves that disturbed sleep can increase the risk of conditions like gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). In fact, diseases of the digestive system are one of the most common causes of hospital admissions, so much so that as a result of GI diseases there was an increase in hospital admission rate of 84.2% from 1999 to 2019. It is then no surprise that overall hospital admission rates have risen by 48.5% over the same period.
Chronic sleep deprivation also disrupts the regulation of blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels, and therefore has a negative impact on brain function, metabolism, and the immune system. Sleep health should not be overlooked and could be a key factor to mitigate the rise of chronic diseases.
Improved sleep, improved NHS
A knock-on effect of improved sleep health and boosting wellbeing can ultimately help with a reduction in hospital admissions and healthcare visits. Research has shown that, when sleep is properly managed, there is a 56% reduction in the use of sleep medication and a 70% drop in anxiety symptoms, equating to a possible £99 million saving for the NHS over three years.
Part of this sleep management drive includes therapies for patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). OSA is a disorder where the muscles and soft tissues in your throat relax too much during sleep and block the upper airway, causing repeated pauses in breathing. ResMed-backed research, presented at the ATS International Conference 2024, underscores the value of PAP (Positive Airway Pressure) therapies in reducing hospitalisation rates for OSA patients. Holger Woehrle, German physician and sleep researcher, looked at 17,000 treatment-naïve patients in both PAP-treated and untreated cohorts and showed PAP treatment reduces hospitalization in patients with OSA over the first four years of treatment.
Although these findings are based on German data, this indicates a strong correlation between effective OSA treatment and reduced use of healthcare resources. What’s more, with the prevalence of OSA expected to rise due to increasing BMI trends and an ageing population, PAP therapy will prove a crucial tool to manage the influx in future healthcare demands.
Raising awareness of sleep health benefits
Creating a more sleep-aware society starts with changes to individual routines. Promoting initiatives like tech-free bedtimes, sticking to a consistent sleep schedule, and creating a dark, cool, and restful environment for sleep can be a great start to improving sleep health. Even encouraging healthy habits like avoiding late-night meals, limiting daytime naps, and increasing physical activity in daily routines can make a drastic difference.
A great way to boost awareness is through public health campaigns, emphasising the importance of sleep as a vital part of overall health. Just as we have seen already with nutrition and smoking, sharing easy-to-adopt tips to improve sleep health could work wonders. In addition to marketing, policy changes could also prove vital in supporting better sleep health within communities and workplaces. For instance, implementing workplace wellness programs that include sleep education and encourage healthier sleep habits could help employees manage stress and improve productivity. In community education programmes, this should focus on the benefits of good sleep hygiene and provide resources for those struggling with sleep disorders.
Another way to increase awareness could be by integrating sleep disorder screenings into routine healthcare visits. This could help identify issues early, allowing for timely intervention and management.
A healthy country prioritises sleep
Addressing the pressures faced by the NHS requires innovative and holistic approaches. When we look at the evidence, tackling poor sleep is a surefire way to achieve better patient outcomes, stem the rise of chronic diseases and reduce the demand on NHS resources. By focusing on improving sleep health, including interventions like PAP therapy for those with OSA, we have the potential to reduce hospital admissions and healthcare visits.
Now, it is up to healthcare leaders and policymakers to spread the word, and the public to shake up their sleep health. By weaving sleep health into public health strategies and everyday practice, individual well-being will be positively impacted. Not only will this help improve our individual health journeys but will also reduce pressure on the NHS and contribute to a more sustainable and efficient health service for decades to come.
