Bedside lamp that may prevent a heart attack

A BEDSIDE lamp that mimics the gradual rising of the sun could ward off early morning heart attacks.

Dawn simulating alarm clocks, which start at around £60, are popular with people who have seasonal affective disorder (SAD), the winter condition where lack of daylight causes low mood.

Research by scientists at the University of Basel in Switzerland suggests they could play a much bigger role by reducing

the strain on the heart as we wake up. Every year around 80,000 people in England suffer a heart attack. Studies show that the peak time of day for them to strike is between 6am and noon.

Not only do more heart attacks occur then than at any other time of day, but they tend to be more serious — with fewer people surviving.

This is thought to be related to the way the body clock prepares us for the day’s exertions. In the hours before we wake, blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormone levels all increase to prepare us for the day.

In a healthy body, this poses no threat. But in someone who already has raised blood pressure or diseased arteries, it can add to the risks of a potentially fatal heart attack. It’s thought the effect may be exaggerated when the body is roused suddenly by an alarm — the brain immediately fires up the heart to get blood pumping round the body. The theory is that if the wake-up signals reach the brain more slowly, then the heart is coaxed into action more gently.

The results, in the journal Sleep Medicine, showed average heart rate when woken soared from 64 beats per minute to almost 90. With the light, the peak was just 78 beats per minute.