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Six To Eight Hours of Sleep Best For the Heart, Says Study (theguardian.com)

Posted by msmash on from the unravelling-mysteries dept.

Research shows sleep deprivation or excessive hours in bed increase risk of coronary artery disease or stroke. From a report: Six to eight hours of sleep a night is most beneficial for the heart, while more or less than that could increase the risk of coronary artery disease or a stroke, researchers have suggested. The study, presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich, indicates sleep deprivation and excessive hours in bed should be avoided for optimum heart health. The study's author, Dr Epameinondas Fountas of the Onassis cardiac surgery centre in Athens, said: "Our findings suggest that too much or too little sleep may be bad for the heart. More research is needed to clarify exactly why, but we do know that sleep influences biological processes like glucose metabolism, blood pressure, and inflammations -- all of which have an impact on cardiovascular disease." Data from more than a million adults from 11 studies was analysed as part of the research. Compared with adults who got six to eight hours of sleep a night, "short sleepers" had an 11% greater risk, while "long sleepers" had 33% increased risk over the next nine years.

3 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. Correlation =/= Causation. by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Maybe the people who sleep more or less have sleep differences as s SYMPTOM of some process that causes artery disease.

    1. Re:Correlation =/= Causation. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      How easy it is to get up in the morning is a function of a few things. One is how rested you are generally, but another is just the time of day that you're sleeping. A night owl is not likely to ever wake up early in the morning consistently no matter how early they go to bed, the body temperature in the morning is just going to be too low.

      I'm personally a dedicated night owl and it takes a tremendous amount of discipline to get in bed and asleep before midnight, and even when I do, I have to artificially raise my core body temperature when I wake up, otherwise, it can take hours before I'm fully functioning again. Doesn't matter how rested I am.

  2. Re:Why not go back to the sleep schedule by cyn1c77 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    of the middle ages? They lacked bright artificial light so they would naturally fall asleep early, not blasting their eyes with 100 watt incandescent or equivalent or computer screens with blue light. Then they'd sleep for about four hours, wake up for a few hours and spend that time praying, reading, helping bring in another brother or sister for their children, keeping watch over the fort, invading the neighbors, etc. Then they'd fall asleep again for another four or so hours.

    Natural. Healthy. Refreshing. What happened to it? Are we losing our culture and history?

    I question your logic. Wasn't the average life expectancy during that period about 30 years?

    Edit: No, I was wrong. 31.3 years.

    This plan sounds neither healthy or refreshing!