Failing to Stick to a Regular Sleep Schedule Increases Risk of Stroke and Heart Attack
A comprehensive study has found that irregular sleep patterns, even if accompanied by a full night’s sleep, increase the risk of stroke, heart attack, and heart failure by 26%. The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, analyzed data from 72,269 people aged 40-79 and found that the further away from a consistent sleep schedule, the higher the risk of harm.
The researchers defined irregular sleep as varying bed and wake-up times each day, and found that even getting eight hours of sleep was insufficient to offset the harmful effects of inconsistent sleep. The study’s lead author, Jean-Philippe Chaput, recommends aiming to wake up and go to sleep within 30 minutes of the same time each night and morning, including weekends.
The study used an activity tracker to record participants’ sleep patterns for seven days, calculating a sleep regularity index (SRI) score for each person. The SRI score ranged from 0 (very irregular) to 100 (perfectly regular sleep-wake pattern). Participants were then grouped into irregular, moderately irregular, and regular sleep categories.
The findings showed that irregular sleepers were 26% more likely to suffer a stroke, heart failure, or heart attack than those with regular sleep, while moderately irregular sleepers were 8% more likely to do so. The researchers found that the SRI score was a continuous measure, with people’s risk of heart attack and stroke increasing the more irregular their sleeping patterns were.
The study also found that even if irregular sleepers met the recommended sleep quota of seven to nine hours per night, they still had a higher risk of heart health problems. In contrast, moderately irregular sleepers saw their risks drop if they got adequate sleep.
The researchers concluded that the findings suggest that irregular sleep is strongly associated with a risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in adults, regardless of whether or not recommended sleep quotas are met. They emphasized the importance of establishing a consistent sleep schedule and waking up at the same time each day to reduce the risk of stroke, heart attack, and heart failure.