Chronic sleep disorder increases cancer risk: Turkish medical expert

By Gokhan Zobar

EDIRNE, Turkiye (AA) - The chronic sleep disorder increases the risk of cancer, according to a Turkish medical expert on Wednesday.

Dr. Levent Ozturk, a professor at Trakya University in the northwestern Edirne province and also the head of the Department of Physiology at Faculty of Medicine, told Anadolu Agency that regular and balanced sleep is one of the basic building blocks of a healthy life.

Sleep disorder impairs the immune system, Ozturk noted, stressing that in this case, the body has difficulty in fighting the cancerous cell.

Emphasizing that insomnia has many harms to health, Ozturk said: "When we get insufficient sleep chronically, we can prepare the ground for cancer because we know that insomnia impairs especially the immune system."

"Certain parts of the immune system, on the other hand, are particularly concerned with the destruction of cancer cells that arise in the body. When this destruction (process) is disrupted, a newly emerged cancer cell can settle there and turn into a disease," he added.

He also pointed out that the sleep disorder that is seen in patients diagnosed with cancer also negatively affects the treatment process.

Noting that sleep problems are observed in cancer patients, Ozturk said: "The person diagnosed with cancer faces the feeling of death, and some of them may develop depression and psychiatric support may be required."

"When this idea is constantly spinning in his head, problems such as falling asleep, waking up frequently at night or waking up very early in the morning, and not being able to sleep again may occur," he said.

"Sleep health should be monitored in patients with such an oncological diagnosis, and if it tends to deteriorate, it should be treated immediately," Ozturk added.

*Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev in Ankara.