Scientists have found that kidney patients who undergo haemodialysis in the morning are likely to live longer than those who have it in the evening.
In a study published in the recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers studied over 240 elderly patients who had undergone haemodialysis over 11 years. The results indicated that patients who were haemodialysed between 6:00 and 11:00 am lived a year and a half longer on an average, than those who underwent the procedure in the afternoon or evening.
Researchers opine that the results could be attributed to the fact that the biochemical clearance of the body is better in the morning than at night. This means that it might be easier to clean the bloodstream in the morning when the person is well rested than later in the day. Another reason could be that since adequate sleep is known to alleviate morbidity, sleepier patients respond better to haemodialysis than others.
Earlier animal studies have shown that sleep is vital for health and lack of sleep causes kidney impairment. Most patients normally sleep during the procedure but no studies have been conducted so far on how sleep patterns affect long-term effects of haemodialysis. More research is needed in this respect to arrive at a definitive conclusion about whether sleep is actually beneficial during haemodialysis in all age groups or not.
JAMA Vol. 286, No. 1