In a study from Vanderbilt University, scientists found sleep irregularity—chronically disrupted sleep and highly variable sleep durations night after night—may increase the risk for atherosclerosis.
They followed 2,032 older participants from six communities around the United States.
The team monitored over a seven-day period and found participants with greater irregularity in their sleep duration were more likely to have a higher burden of coronary artery calcium, more plaque in their carotid arteries, and greater systemic atherosclerosis and stiffness in their blood vessels commonly referred to as “hardening of the arteries.”
These results suggest that maintaining regular or habitual sleep durations, or sleeping close to the same total amount of time each night, may play an important role in preventing heart disease.
The team suggests that doctors who encourage their patients to maintain regular sleep patterns can help them reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease, Full said.
Disruption of the body’s circadian rhythm may be the link between disrupted sleep and heart disease.
Almost all major cardiovascular functions, including heart rate, blood pressure, vascular tone, and endothelial functions, are regulated by circadian clock genes.
Disruption or misalignment of circadian rhythms can interrupt these important cardiovascular functions, resulting in the promotion of chronic inflammation, alterations in glucose metabolism, heightened sympathetic nervous system activation, and increases in arterial pressures, all predisposed to the risk of atherosclerosis progression.
If you care about sleep, please read studies about a new way to detect sleep apnea, and this sleep supplement may help prevent memory loss.
For more information about wellness, please see recent studies about drug that can treat sleep loss and insomnia, and results showing Omega-3 fats may lower risk of irregular heart rhythm.
The study was conducted by Kelsie Full et al and published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
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