In a new study, researchers found that even if people had a high genetic risk of heart disease or stroke, this appeared to be offset to some extent by good sleep patterns.
This is the first study examining the impact on the risk of heart or blood vessel problems from the combination of sleep patterns and genetic susceptibility to heart disease.
The research was conducted by a team at Tulane University.
The team looked at genetic variations known as SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) that were already known to be linked to the development of heart disease and stroke.
They analyzed the SNPs from blood samples taken from 385 292 healthy participants in the UK Biobank project and used them to create a genetic risk score to determine whether the participants were at high, intermediate or low risk of heart problems.
The team also created a new, “healthy sleep score” by asking the participants whether they were a “morning” or an “evening” person, how long they slept for, and whether or not they suffered from insomnia, snoring or frequent, excessive daytime sleepiness.
The healthy sleep score ranged from 0 to 5, with 5 being the healthiest sleep pattern, representing a ‘morning” person, who slept between 7-8 hours a night, without insomnia, snoring or daytime sleepiness.
The researchers followed the participants for an average of 8.5 years, during which time there were 7280 cases of heart disease or stroke.
They found that compared to those with a sleep score of 0-1 (unhealthy sleep pattern), participants with a score of 5 had a 35% reduced risk of heart disease, and a 34% reduced risk of both heart disease and stroke.
The team also found that participants with both a high genetic risk and a poor sleep pattern had a more than 2.5-fold greater risk of heart disease and a 1.5-fold greater risk of stroke compared to those with a low genetic risk and a healthy sleep pattern.
However, a healthy sleep pattern compensated slightly for a high genetic risk, with just over a two-fold increased risk for these people.
The researchers say disrupted sleep could upset the hormonal or metabolic regulation of the body, increase the body’s ‘fight or flight’ responses, increase inflammation and disrupt the body’s natural circadian rhythm.
The lead author of the study is Professor Lu Qi, Director of Tulane University Obesity Research Center.
The study is published in the European Heart Journal.
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