Failing to stick to a regular bedtime and having weekend lie-ins could double your risk of developing cardiovascular diseases when you’re older, suggests a new study.
Older adults with irregular sleep patterns are nearly twice as likely to have cardiovascular disease as those who get the same amount of sleep each night within the same time window.
Researchers tracked 1,992 men and women between the ages of 45 and 84, none of whom had cardiovascular disease at the start of the study, over the course of five years following sleep examinations.
Participants wore devices on their wrists to track when they were asleep and when they were awake over the course of seven consecutive days, underwent a one-night at-home polysomnography, and answered a questionnaire about their sleep habits.
Over the course of five years, 111 participants experienced cardiovascular issues, such as heart attack or stroke, or died from cardiovascular disease related causes.
Those who had the most irregular sleep patterns had more than double the risk of cardiovascular disease than those who had regular bedtimes and wake-up times – and this connection remained strong even when adjusting for other factors including average length of sleep and sleep apnea.
The researchers believe that irregular sleep patterns lead to disturbances to the body’s circadian rhythms, which in turn cause issues with the metabolism, raising the risk of obesity, diabetes, and high cholesterol.
Lead study author Tianyi Huang said: ‘We hope that our study will help raise awareness about the potential importance of a regular sleep pattern in improving heart health. It is a new frontier in sleep medicine.’
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/03/not-sticking-bedtime-lie-ins-doubles-risk-cardiovascular-disease-12337478/?ITO=squid
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