Proper
sleep duration improves vascular biomarkers to drastically lower risk of a
fatal cardiac event
In an amazing finding,
the study team found that the effect of sufficient sleep on heart-related
deaths could be as strong as not smoking. Lead study author, Dr. Monique
Verschuren noted "It is always important to confirm results... but the
evidence is certainly growing that sleep should be added to our list of CVD
risk factors." Lack of quality sleep has been linked to obesity, high
blood pressure and other factors directly associated with cardiovascular risk.
In a large study
consisting of 6,672 men and 7,967 women, aged from 20 to 65 years who were free
of CVD, the team found that the combination of the four traditional lifestyle
factors was linked to a 57 percent lower risk of both fatal and non-fatal CVD,
and a 67 percent lower risk of fatal events. When the researchers added
sufficient sleep (defined as seven continuous hours, but less than nine hours
each night) as a factor, the heart benefit increased further: the risk of
composite CVD was 65 percent lower and the risk of fatal events was 83 percent
lower.
In an effort to explain
the results, the scientists point to prior studies showing that short sleep
duration is associated with a higher incidence of overweight, obesity and
hypertension leading to higher levels of blood pressure, total cholesterol and
triglycerides, consistent with increased cardiovascular disease risk. Combining
a quality night's sleep of more than seven hours with the other identified
lifestyle factors (diet, exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption) is a recipe
for lowering the risk of death from a heart attack by more than eighty percent,
clearly worth the small amount of extra effort.
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