In the study, 3,974 bank workers wore activity trackers to measure
sleep for one week and also had 3D heart ultrasounds and cardiac CT
scans to look for heart disease.
Researchers found that compared to people who got seven to eight
hours of sleep, those who slept less than six hours a night were 27
percent more likely to have "preclinical" atherosclerosis:
structural changes and thickening in the artery walls that isn't yet
serious enough to cause complications.
Previous research has linked lack of sleep to traditional risk
factors for heart disease like high blood sugar, high blood
pressure, inflammation and obesity.
"Sleep, together with diet and physical activity, (is) one of the
healthy habits that we need to adopt and maintain to keep our
cardiovascular system healthy," said senior study author Jose
Ordovas, a researcher at the CNIC in Madrid and director of
nutrition and genomics at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition
Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Jan/18/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif)
"Our results support the traditional belief that we should have
about eight hours of good sleep per day," Ordovas said by email.
"For those that for one reason or another cannot avoid poor sleep,
the recommendation should be to be more proactive about controlling
other lifestyle risk factors such as diet and exercise."
Hardening of the arteries can develop gradually over several decades
before it causes problems. People can live for years with
preclinical abnormalities before they develop full-blown
atherosclerosis, marked by a buildup of plaque on artery walls that
restricts blood flow and can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
While very few participants - just 160 people - slept more than
eight hours a night, the study also found that these long sleepers
had increased heart risk. Women who slept more than 8 hours were
almost twice as likely to have preclinical plaque buildup in their
arteries than women who got seven to eight hours of sleep a night.
Men also had a slightly higher risk of plaque buildup with too much
sleep, but the difference was too small to rule out the possibility
that it was due to chance.
"It is important to emphasize that more is not always better, as
oversleeping can increase cardiovascular risk," Ordovas said.
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Jan/18/images/ads/current/ccaonline_lda050208.png)
Study participants were 46 years old on average and none had a
history of heart disease. They tended to be slightly overweight but
also to get about 45 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical
activity.
The people who got less sleep tended to be older, weigh more and
have higher cholesterol levels and blood pressure than individuals
who got more rest, researchers report in the Journal of the American
College of Cardiology.
The study team assessed participants' 10-year and 30-year risk of a
serious cardiac event like a heart attack or stroke using the
Framingham risk score calculator (https://bit.ly/2m1MiNQ).
Overall, participants had a 5.9 percent risk of a heart attack or
stroke in the next 10 years and a 17.7 percent 30-year risk.
With less than six hours of sleep, however, the 10-year risk rose to
6.9 percent and the 30-year risk increased to 20.9 percent.
The study wasn't a controlled experiment designed to prove whether
or how the quality or quantity of sleep might directly influence
hardening of the arteries or cause heart attacks or strokes.
Still, the results highlight the importance of getting enough rest,
said the coauthor of an accompanying editorial, Dr. Daniel Gottlieb,
director of the sleep disorders center at the VA Boston Healthcare
System.
"One key to getting adequate sleep is making sleep a priority - by
turning off the TV, computer, tablet and phone at a reasonable hour,
keeping a regular sleep schedule, making time to relax before bed,
and avoiding caffeine late in the day," Gottlieb said by email.
"Exercise and good diet can also help to improve sleep quality."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Jan/18/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png)
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2STVfbD and https://bit.ly/2U2sgmf Journal of
the American College of Cardiology, online January 14, 2019.
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |