Irregular sleep schedule increases risk of deadly health problems: study

We all know that routinely hitting the weed at odd hours isn’t good for your sleep health — but a new study suggests it could be deadly.

New research shows that having an irregular sleep routine can increase your risk of major cardiovascular events like heart disease or stroke, even if you’re getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep a night.

Previous studies have focused primarily on the health outcomes of sleep duration as opposed to the impact of having a consistent sleep-wake cycle, so these findings are significant.

“Our results suggest that sleep regularity may be more important than sufficient sleep duration in modulating MACE [major adverse cardiovascular event] risk,” said the study’s research team.

For the study, 72,269 people aged 40 to 79 wore an activity tracker for a week to assess their sleep patterns. None of the participants had a history of heart disease or stroke.

The data was then aggregated to calculate each participant’s Sleep Regularity Index score. Those with a score higher than 87 were considered to have a regular sleep pattern, and those with scores below 72 were determined to have an irregular sleep pattern. Those in the middle were categorized as “moderately regular.”

The research team then collected data on incidents of stroke, heart failure and heart attacks over the next eight years and found that those who slept irregularly were 26% more likely to experience a serious cardiovascular event than those who went to bed at about the same time each. at night.

Participants whose sleep schedule was moderately regular were 8% more likely to have this type of life-threatening event.

The study also showed that those with regular bedtimes were more likely to achieve the recommended hours of sleep per night – considered to be seven to eight hours for those over 65 and seven to nine for those between 18 and 64. .

Furthermore, they found that trying to make up for lost sleep did not compensate for cardiovascular risks in irregular sleepers.

These findings were published Tuesday in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

The study had several limitations, including that sleep data was only collected over one week, and the sleep tracker did not distinguish between sleep and conscious rest. Napping was also not taken into account.

However, this new study shows that there is a strong link between not going to bed at the same time every night and your risk of heart disease or stroke.

“Findings from this study suggest that more attention should be paid to sleep regularity in public health guidelines and clinical practice because of its potential role in cardiovascular health,” the study authors said.