Can sleep cure cancer?

Per­sis­tent­ly lit­tle sleep is some­thing almost every­one is famil­iar with. Long nights in the office, with the new­born, at fes­ti­vals and in many oth­er sit­u­a­tions keep us awake. If you have a sleep dis­or­der, it is not easy to com­pen­sate for a sleep deficit. Seri­ous health prob­lems can result.

Accord­ing to stud­ies by the Clin­ic for Gyne­col­o­gy with the Cen­ter for Onco­log­i­cal Surgery at the Char­ité, more than a third of long-term can­cer patients suf­fer from severe sleep dis­or­ders. Can­cer and sleep dis­or­ders occur­ring togeth­er is a com­mon­ly observed phe­nom­e­non. How the two influ­ence each oth­er has not yet been suf­fi­cient­ly investigated.

Togeth­er with the Sleep Med­i­cine Cen­ter, the Char­ité Women’s Clin­ic is con­duct­ing a study to explore the inter­ac­tion between can­cer and sleep dis­or­ders. The proof of an influ­ence of sleep on the suc­cess of ther­a­py may open up com­plete­ly new pos­si­bil­i­ties, accord­ing to Prof. Dr. Sehouli, Direc­tor of the Clin­ic for Gyne­col­o­gy with Cen­ter for Onco­log­i­cal Surgery at the Char­ité. Sleep dis­or­ders are eas­i­er to influ­ence than tumor growth with medication.