Long sleep increases the risk of heart disease in 2 times
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Scientists from the United States found that too long or short sleep increases the risk of heart disease, according to the American College of Cardiology.
In order to identify the relationship between sleep duration and heart health, experts retrospectively examined 3,019 patients over the age of 45 who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. It turned out that those who slept less than six hours per night became victims of a stroke or heart attack twice as often as others, and congestive heart failure was diagnosed 1.6 times more often.
At the same time, a long sleep was harmful: spending more than eight hours in bed was twice as likely to suffer from angina and 1.1 times as severe as coronary heart disease.
Based on these findings, it can be argued that nightly sleep lasting no less than six and not more than eight hours minimizes the risk of cardiovascular disease in the long term.
Previous studies have linked inadequate sleep with hyperactivation of the sympathetic nervous system, impaired glucose tolerance (prediabetes), diabetes and increased levels of cortisone, blood pressure, heart rate at rest and markers of inflammation. All these factors provoke the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases.
However, scientists still do not understand why the sleep is too harmful. The authors of the work believe that lovers of sleep, who turned to the doctor because of chest pain, were subjected to a more thorough and in-depth clinical examination than those who sleep less than six hours and do not experience similar pain. To find out if this is the case, long-term studies are required. If they prove the harmfulness of insufficient and excessive length of sleep, doctors will be able to identify patients who are at high risk of developing heart diseases through questions about "sleepy" habits.
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