A BAD NIGHT’S SLEEP SPELLS DANGER

A LACK of sleep can increase the chances of suffering a heart attack or stroke, researchers have found.

Women especially are at risk because they are more prone to insomnia.

Difficulty in nodding off, staying asleep and waking up not feeling refreshed increase the risks by 27 per cent, 11 per cent and 18 per cent respectively, a study of more than 160,000 people showed.

The findings prove a good night’s sleep

‘We need to raise public awareness of the dangers of insomnia’

is as important as exercise and diet, say experts, if you want to live a long and healthy life.

Sleep plays a vital role in repairing the heart and blood vessels. It also gives the cardiovascular and immune systems a much-needed rest. But insomnia is a common problem affecting about one in three of us.

Researchers looked at the connection between insomnia symptoms and heart attacks, coronary disease and stroke, examining 15 studies with a total of 160,867 participants.

They found women with insomnia had a slightly higher risk of problems than men. However, the difference between the sexes was not considered high enough to be significant. Researcher Qiao He, of China Medical University, said: “Sleep is important for biological recovery and takes around a third of our lifetime.

“But in modern society more and more people complain of insomnia. Researchers have found associations between insomnia and poor health outcomes. But the links between insomnia and heart disease or stroke have been inconsistent.”

She added: “The underlying mechanisms for these links are not completely understood.

“Previous studies have shown that insomnia may change body functions which are risk factors for cardiovascular disease and stroke.

“We cannot conclude that insomnia is more dangerous for women. However, we do know that women are more prone to insomnia because of differences in genetics, sex hormones and reaction to stress. It may therefore be prudent to pay more attention to women’s sleep health.”

She concluded: “Health education is needed to increase public awareness of insomnia symptoms and the potential risks, so that people with sleep problems are encouraged to seek help.”

Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said: “Problems sleeping is a common complaint that people take to their GP and this study confirms that difficulty getting off to sleep, or poor quality sleep, are associated with a small increased risk of heart disease.

“However, other factors such as smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure contribute significantly more to your overall risk of a heart attack or stroke than sleep problems do. Whilst this study appears to show that sleep problems increase your risk of heart disease the relationship between cause and effect is not known. We have funded a research project led by Professor Andrew Steptoe at University College London to answer this question.”

A spokeswoman for The Sleep Council said: “This shows people must prioritise sleep because it’s as important as exercise and diet.

“Chronic poor sleep can increase risks of stroke, as this study shows.

“People should have a sleep routine with regular bedtime and waking times and make sure they get as much fresh air and natural daylight as possible.”

The findings were published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

ABAD night’s sleep raises the risk of heart attacks and strokes, says new research. It is not something we think about often but spending a good amount of time visiting the land of nod is very important. We would like to wish sweet dreams to all our readers.