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 The risk may go up when people get too little sleep, or too much,
according to a statement from the American Heart Association (AHA).
“We do not know the optimal amount of sleep needed to minimize the
risk of heart disease,” but people who get less than seven hours a
night or more than nine hours may be more at risk than their peers
who fall somewhere in the middle of that range, said lead statement
author Dr. Marie St-Onge of Columbia University in New York City, in
an email.
Previous research suggests that sleep irregularities can increase
people’s risks for a variety of cardiovascular disorders, such as
clogged or hardened arteries, high blood pressure, irregular
heartbeat, and stroke, as well as metabolic problems such as high
cholesterol, obesity and diabetes that all contribute to
cardiovascular disease.
There is certainly a vicious cycle that may be going on with sleep
and chronic diseases,” St-Onge added. “Bad sleep can increase the
risk of obesity which then increases the risk of sleep disorders.”
Much of the scientific research about sleep and heart health focuses
on insomnia or sleep apnea.
People are diagnosed with insomnia when they have difficulty falling
or staying asleep for at least three nights a week for three or more
months.
Sleep apnea is diagnosed when someone has an average of five or more
pauses in breathing, which can last seconds to minutes, per hour of
sleep. These pauses are most commonly due to a narrowed airway.
Often, these sleep issues are tied to two other health problems:
diabetes and obesity. Some studies have found sleep can influence
what people eat and impact their risk of obesity, for example.
But more research is needed to see how sleep influences weight over
long periods of time, according to the AHA statement.
Longer studies might also help explain how sleep variations
influence cholesterol levels, diabetes, blood pressure or other risk
factors for cardiovascular disease.
It’s also unclear whether treating sleep disorders could lower the
risk of cardiovascular disease.
The problem is that chronic diseases, like cardiovascular disease,
develop gradually,” said Kristen Knutson, a researcher at the
University of Chicago who wasn’t involved in the AHA statement.
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“So it’s possible that someone could be on the path toward
hypertension or heart disease and not know it because it’s early in
the process,” Knutson added by email.
Still, if poor sleep can speed the development of risk factors for
cardiovascular disease, it makes sense for people to seek help for
sleep irregularities sooner rather than later.
“My suggestion for patients is if they don’t feel they are sleeping
well, they should raise the issue with their doctor themselves;
don’t wait for your doctor to ask you about your sleep,” Knutson
said.
About 50 to 70 million U.S. adults regularly don’t get enough sleep
or suffer from a sleep disorder, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute estimates.
It’s a problem that’s been getting worse over time. For example, in
2009, about 29 percent of adults reported getting not enough sleep,
compared with about 22 percent in 1977.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society
recently advised that adults get at least seven hours of sleep
nightly to promote overall health.
“Heart disease is only one way things can go wrong, and poor or too
short sleep can send people into a spiral,” said Till Roenneberg, of
Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, Germany.
“Sleeping too short and even more important - sleeping outside the
time provided by the body clock - can support metabolic diseases and
weight gain, which can lead to more creating difficulties, which
lead to bad sleep sending you back into the loop,” Roenneberg, who
wasn’t involved in the AHA statement, added by email.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2cDLUF5 Circulation, online September 19,
2016.
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