A new sleep study suggests irregular sleep patterns have a big impact on risk of heart attack and stroke
A new sleep study suggests irregular sleep patterns have a big impact on risk of heart attack and stroke
Experts have cautioned that your nightly routine could have a significant impact on the health of your heart, with studies revealing irregular sleeping habits increase the risk of strokes and heart attacks. Remarkably, it appears even eight hours of sleep will not shield you from adverse health effects if there is considerable variation in your sleep and wake times.
Senior figure Jean-Philippe Chaput emphasized: "We should aim to wake up and go to sleep within 30 minutes of the same time each night and each morning, including weekends. Within an hour of the same time is good but less good than 30 minutes, and even better is to have zero variation."
"Beyond an hour's difference each night and each morning means irregular sleep. That can have negative health impacts. The closer you are to zero variation the better."
The research, sourcing data from over 72,000 UK Biobank participants, utilised activity trackers for a week to determine each individual's Sleep Regularity Index (SRI) Score, as reported by the Mirror.
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The study aimed to group subjects into distinct categories based on their SRI Scores, ranging from 0 for highly irregular sleep patterns to 100 for perfectly consistent sleep-wake schedules. The thresholds for categorization were:, reports Surrey Live.
The study's results have shown that individuals with irregular sleep patterns are about a quarter more likely to suffer a stroke or heart attack than those with regular sleep habits. Speaking about the research, Chaput remarked: "No one is perfect across a whole year, and if you don't have a regular sleep pattern for one or two days a week, it's not going to kill you. But if you repeatedly have irregular sleep, five or six days a week, then it becomes chronic, and that is a problem."
In terms of catching up on lost sleep, he suggested a different approach from the typical weekend lie-in, saying: "If you need to catch up on sleep you've missed during the week at weekends, then going to bed earlier is better than lying in. You should still be trying to wake up at the same time, even on Saturday and Sundays."
He also highlighted that maintaining a constant sleep schedule is crucial, noting: "Our results suggest that sleep regularity may be more relevant than sufficient sleep duration in modulating major adverse cardiovascular event risk."
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