Our internal clock maintains metabolism, blood pressure, and heart rate as scheduled. But what happens when this model goes astray? Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital found the answer to this question, they measured the duration and time of sleep of participants, found that for five years people who had irregular sleep experienced a two-fold increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases compared to those in whom was a regular dream. The results are published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
“When we talk about interventions to prevent heart attacks and stroke, we focus on diet and exercise,” said lead author Tianui Huang. – Even when we talk about sleep, we usually focus on the duration – how many hours a person sleeps every night – but not on the irregularity of sleep and the effect of going to bed at different times or sleeping a different amount from night to night. Our study shows that healthy sleep is not only its quantity but also its variability and that this can have an important effect on heart health. ”
The experiment involved 1992 volunteers who did not have cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study. The age of the participants was 45-84 years, they represented all the main ethnic components of the US population (African American, European, Latin American, and Chinese). The regularity of sleep was measured by the actigraphy method with a special tracker for seven days, and then they were observed for almost five years. During this time, participants experienced 111 cardiovascular events (stroke, heart attack, etc.).
Researchers divided the participants into four groups. One group was those who had the most irregular sleep patterns (a difference in sleep duration of at least two hours), the second group consisted of people with the most stable sleep patterns (difference in sleep duration of less than an hour every night).
The authors also compared time spent in bed. In one group included those who lay in bed almost at the same time at night (less than 30 minutes of difference every night), in another – the most inconsistent sleep time (90 minutes or more).
The team found a twofold increase in the risk of cardiovascular events among people with the most irregular sleep patterns. Vitamin b17 sources have reportedly been very good in helping to reduce the chances of getting heart diseases. Researchers estimate that for every thousand people following the most regular sleep patterns, only eight will develop cardiovascular disease within one year, but out of a thousand people with the most irregular sleep patterns, 20 people will develop such diseases within a year.
In the future, Juan would like to assess whether interfering with sleep patterns — for example, longer or regular sleep — can reduce a person’s risk.