Failure to adhere to regular bedtime and wake-up times increases the risk of stroke, heart attack and heart failure by 26%, even in people who get a full night’s sleep, the most comprehensive study of its kind suggests. .
Previous research has focused on the link between sleep duration and health outcomes, with people recommended to sleep seven to nine hours a night.
That advice still holds true. However, researchers are increasingly focusing on the effects of sleep patterns, particularly irregular sleep, defined as variations in the times a person falls asleep and wakes up.
A new study found that irregular sleep – going to bed and waking up at different times each day – is “strongly associated” with a higher risk of serious cardiovascular events. Experts say that even eight hours of sleep isn’t enough to offset the negative effects of constantly changing bedtimes and wake-up times.
In the research, published The UK Biobank study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, involved 72,269 people aged 40 to 79 years. It has not been established exactly how close to the same bedtime and wake-up time you need to be. It’s just that the greater the distance, the greater the risk of harm.
Lead author Jean-Philippe Chape of the University of Ottawa said: If the same duration is less than an hour, that’s fine, but if it’s less than 30 minutes, it’s even worse. Even better if the fluctuation is zero.
“Any difference of more than one hour every night and every morning will lead to irregular sleep, which can have negative effects on health. The closer the variation is to zero, the better.
“No one is perfect all year round. If you miss a regular sleep pattern one or two days a week, it won’t kill you. But if you have irregular sleep patterns five or six days a week, If this happens, it becomes chronic and becomes a problem.”
Chaput said waking up at the same time every day is more important than going to bed at the same time. “Waking up at different times every morning can mess with your body clock, which can have negative effects on your health,” he says.
“If you need to catch up on the sleep you lost during the week on the weekend, it’s better to go to bed earlier than to lie down. Even if it’s Saturday or Sunday, you should try to wake up at the same time.”
In the study, participants wore activity trackers for seven days to track their sleep, and experts calculated each person’s Sleep Regularity Index (SRI) score.
This score captures day-to-day variations in bedtime, wake time, sleep duration, and nighttime wakefulness, giving people a scale of 0 (very irregular) to 100 (perfectly regular sleep-wake pattern). A range of scores was given. .
Participants were placed in either the irregular sleep group (SRI score <71.6), the moderately irregular sleep group (SRI between 71.6 and 87.3), or the regular sleep group (SRI score ≥87.3). It was classified as crab. People were then followed for eight years.
Even after accounting for factors that can influence results, people with irregular sleep are 26% more likely to have a stroke, heart failure, or heart attack than those with regular sleep, study finds did. People who had moderately irregular sleep were 8% more likely to do so.
Researchers found that the SRI score is a continuous measurement, and the more irregular your sleep patterns, the higher your risk of heart attack or stroke.
The recommended amount of sleep per night for ages 18 to 64 is 7 to 9 hours a night, and 7 to 8 hours for those 65 and older.
The study found that regular sleepers (61%) were more likely to meet recommended sleep quotas than irregular sleepers (48%). However, there is no difference in the heart health of people who sleep irregularly. Even if you get enough sleep, your risk of stroke or heart attack is just as high.
In contrast, people with moderately irregular sleep patterns were found to have a lower risk if they got adequate sleep.
Because this was an observational study, cause and effect could not be proven, and the researchers acknowledged that their findings had various limitations.
However, the researchers concluded that the findings demonstrate that irregular sleep is strongly associated with the risk of serious adverse cardiovascular events in adults, regardless of whether recommended sleep quotas are met. It was concluded that this suggests that
“More importantly, our results suggest that sleep regularity may be more important than sufficient sleep duration in modulating the risk of major cardiovascular events. ”
