We all know that getting older comes with its own set of health risks, like high blood pressure and diabetes.
These are commonly linked to irregular heartbeats known as atrial fibrillation (AFib for short), a condition that mostly impacts older adults.
AFib can lead to dangerous health issues like stroke or heart failure.
But did you know that stress and bad sleep could also trigger this heart problem, especially in women after menopause? A new study sheds light on this overlooked connection.
The Study and Its Findings
Researchers looked at information from over 83,000 women between the ages of 50 and 79.
These women were part of a bigger ongoing study called the Women’s Health Initiative in the U.S. The majority of the participants were white.
The women answered various questions, not just about their health, but also about their life experiences.
They were asked about stressful events like losing someone they loved, getting sick, going through a divorce, money worries, and any form of abuse.
They were also asked about their sleep — if it was good or bad and if they had trouble falling asleep or woke up often during the night. Additional questions dug into their overall mood and whether they had good social support.
Here’s what the researchers found: Over one-fourth of the women developed AFib in about 10 years. And guess what?
The more sleep problems they had, the higher their chances of getting this heart issue. For each extra point a woman scored on the “bad sleep” scale, her likelihood of developing AFib went up by 4%.
On top of that, each extra point on the “stressful life events” scale made them 2% more likely to develop AFib.
Dr. Susan X. Zhao, who led the study, said that there’s a strong connection between the heart and the brain.
She mentioned that the heart can react to hormonal changes caused by stress and poor sleep, which might explain why women who are generally healthy but have these problems could still develop AFib.
Why This Matters and What’s Next
So, it turns out that mental well-being and sleep quality are crucial pieces of the puzzle when it comes to heart health, at least for older women.
However, the study does have some limitations, such as relying solely on what participants said at the beginning of the research. The authors agree that more studies are needed to back up these findings.
This research adds to growing knowledge about how stress and sleep can impact our health in ways we might not have thought about.
It also emphasizes the importance of not only keeping an eye on common risk factors like high blood pressure but also of paying attention to our emotional and mental well-being.
So, if you’re an older woman who has dealt with a lot of stress or has had poor sleep, it might be time to talk to a healthcare provider. Who knew that a good night’s sleep could be so crucial for your heart?
If you care about sleep, please read studies about herb that could help you sleep well at night, and these drugs could lower severity of sleep apnea by one third.
For more information about sleep, please see recent studies that coffee boosts your physical activity, cuts sleep, affects heartbeat, and results showing how to deal with “COVID-somnia” and sleep well at night.
The study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
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