Sleep duration ‘could be linked to higher colorectal cancer risk’

People who sleep for longer and are overweight or snore regularly could be at an increased risk of contracting colorectal cancer.

This is according to a new study appearing in the latest issue of the medical journal Sleep, which utilised data drawn from a total of 76,368 women and 30,121 men.

It was shown that overweight patients or those who were regular snorers had approximately 1.4 to two times greater risk of developing colorectal cancer when sleeping more than nine hours a day, compared to those who only slept for seven.

This link could be explained by obstructive sleep apnoea, a condition that decreases the quality of sleep and leads to excess tiredness.

Lead author Dr Xuehong Zhang of Harvard Medical School said: "Future studies should focus on different populations and evaluate to see whether sleep duration and sleep quality is a novel risk factor for colorectal cancer and to understand the mechanisms behind this association."

Colorectal cancer is also known as bowel cancer and is the third most common type of cancer in England, according to NHS data.