Getting to sleep at late hours of the night could lead to heart attacks and strokes, a scientist has warned.
Researchers claim that even if we get eight hours of sleep a night, nodding off at irregular times increases the risk of these deadly conditions by more than a fifth.
Doctor Jean-Philippe Chaput, of the University of Ottawa, Canada, carried out a sleep audit of more than 72,000 people, said: “Our results suggest that sleep regularity may be more relevant than sufficient sleep duration in modulating major adverse cardiovascular event risk.”
He added: “Findings from this study suggest that more attention needs to be paid to sleep regularity in public health guidelines and clinical practice due to its potential role in cardiovascular health.”
The researcher concluded the risk of heart attacks or stroke were “strongly associated” with odd sleeping patterns, reports the Express.
Emily McGrath, a senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation also cautioned: “It is not clear exactly how sleep benefits the heart but research suggests that disturbed sleep is associated with higher levels of a protein called CRP.”
“This is a sign of inflammation, the process linked with heart and circulatory disease.”
She continued: “Sleep can also have an indirect impact on heart health, by affecting our lifestyle choices.”
The researchers continued data from 72,269 people aged 40 to 79 who participated in the UK Biobank study.
The people with no history of significant heart issues, such as a cardiac arrest were monitored, by a tracker for seven days to record their sleep patterns. Experts then calculated a Sleep Regularity Index score for each person.
Scores were ranked from 0 being “very irregular” sleep to 100 for a “perfectly regular sleep-wake pattern”.
Over the course of eight years, researchers tracked the participants’ health outcomes, focusing on conditions like cardiac arrest, heart failure, or stroke, and examining the correlation with their sleep patterns.
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The research found out that even after adjusting for variable like coffee consumption and exercise levels, those with irregular sleep patterns were found to be 26% more likely to suffer a heart attack, heart failure or stroke than those with better sleep habits.
Additionally, moderately irregular sleepers were 8% more likely to suffer these serious health conditions.
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