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Getting a good night's sleep can help fight cancer
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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A good night's rest not only helps to restore strength, but also helps to resist cancer. This is the conclusion reached by scientists from the University of Chicago, who confirmed their assumption with a number of scientific experiments. At the same time, scientists have established that it is extremely important for patients who have a tendency to develop and grow a malignant tumor to sleep long and soundly, since this will help to significantly slow down the growth of cancer cells. If sleep is interrupted several times during the night, then cancer cells become active, and the process of tumor growth accelerates.
During their research, the specialists divided the laboratory rodents into two groups. The scientists regularly disturbed the sleep of the first group of mice during the first week of the experiment. Then, cancer cells were artificially transplanted into the rodents from both groups. The scientists continued to wake up the first group of mice after a certain period of time, and did not touch the second group and allowed the rodents to fully rest at their usual time. In the ninth week of the experiment, malignant tumors developed in all rodents, both from the first and second groups. The researchers conducted comparative analyses and measurements in the twelfth week of the experiment. As it turned out, the rodents from the first group (whose sleep was disturbed) had malignant tumors of much larger sizes compared to the rodents from the second group, who were able to fully rest.
Scientists explain this reaction by a decrease in the body's defenses due to the inability to fully rest. In this case, the main reason for the rapid development of the tumor is not the aggressiveness of the cancer cells, but the inability of the weakened body to resist the disease. Specialists injected cancer cells into animals in different parts of the body, which was originally intended and was part of the research project. Based on the results of the experiment, scientists determined that the most aggressive cancers were those that developed in the femoral muscles. In addition, scientists were able to discover a receptor, the impact on which increases the body's defenses.
Also, during the research project, scientists found that a month of sleep deprivation leads to active growth of cancer cells, which, due to suppressed immunity and general weakness of the body, begin to multiply at an accelerated rate. Experts note that a malignant tumor often deprives a person of proper rest. In their opinion, doctors need to make every effort to help patients with cancer get a quality night's rest, since this plays an important role in the fight against the disease. As the authors of the research project believe, their discovery will help find an effective way to combat cancer.
Previous studies have shown that both lack of sleep and excess sleep are equally harmful to humans, since both increase the likelihood of developing chronic diseases. According to doctors, a person should rest 7-9 hours a day.