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There Is No Link Between Insomnia and Early Death, Study Finds (bbc.com)
A new report published in the journal Science Direct says there is no link between insomnia and early death. The researchers reportedly "reviewed 17 studies, which covered close to 37 million people, to compile their results," the BBC notes. From the report: This new report goes against what the NHS says, which claims that as well as putting people at risk of obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, that insomnia shortens life expectancy. The NHS recommends things like exercising to tire yourself out during the day and cutting down on caffeine. It also says smoking, eating too much or drinking alcohol late at night can stop you from sleeping well. Other recommendations include writing a list of things that are playing on your mind and trying to get to bed at a similar time every night. "There was no difference in the odds of mortality for those individuals with symptoms of insomnia when compared to those without symptoms," the study says. "This finding was echoed in the assessment of the rate of mortality in those with and without symptoms of insomnia using the outcomes of multivariate models, with the most complete adjustment for potential confounders, as reported by the individual studies included in this meta-analysis. Additional analyses revealed a tendency for an increased risk of mortality associated with hypnotic use."
That isn't how numbers work.
When you're looking for some thing, and you don't know if you find it or not, then you either found it, or were unable to find it.
For example, I dig a hole in the ground hoping to find a dinosaur bone; I either found it, or didn't find it. And I don't know if there are any dinosaur bones nearby. But if I dig up the whole valley, and sift all the dirt down to bedrock, then I know (with some high degree of certainty below infinity) that there are no dinosaur bones in the dirt layer of that valley.
They looked at 17 studies covering close to 37 million people. They weren't simply "unable to find" a link; they found that any such link is likely smaller than some tiny value. (while still more than 1/infinity)
And note that doesn't mean that sleep isn't important to health; it just means that insomnia itself is not a risk factor for death. Is insomnia simply lack of sleep? No.