Sleeping at irregular hours could lead to heart attacks and strokes, warn scientists. Researchers claim that even if we manage eight hours of sleep a night, falling asleep at inconsistent times increases the risk of these deadly conditions by over a fifth.
Dr Jean-Philippe Chaput, from the University of Ottawa, Canada, who conducted a sleep audit of more than 72,000 people, stated: “Our results suggest that sleep regularity may be more relevant than sufficient sleep duration in modulating major adverse cardiovascular event risk.”
He added: “Findings from this study suggest that more attention needs to be paid to sleep regularity in public health guidelines and clinical practice due to its potential role in cardiovascular health.”
The scientist concluded that the risks of a heart attack or stroke were “strongly associated” with irregular sleeping patterns. Emily McGrath, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, also warned: “It is not clear exactly how sleep benefits the heart but research suggests that disturbed sleep is associated with higher levels of a protein called CRP.”
She continued: “This is a sign of inflammation, the process linked with heart and circulatory disease.”
She further added: “Sleep can also have an indirect impact on heart health, by affecting our lifestyle choices.”
The researchers analysed data for 72,269 people aged 40 to 79 who participated in the UK Biobank study, reports the Daily Star.
Participants with no history of significant heart issues, such as cardiac arrest, were monitored in a study where they wore an activity tracker for seven days to record their sleep patterns. Experts calculated a Sleep Regularity Index score for each individual, ranging from 0 – indicating “very irregular” sleep – to 100 for a “perfectly regular sleep-wake pattern”.
Over the course of eight years, researchers tracked the participants’ health outcomes, focusing on conditions like cardiac arrest, heart failure, or stroke, and examining the correlation with their sleep patterns. The findings revealed that, even after adjusting for variables like coffee consumption and physical activity levels, those with irregular sleep patterns had a 26 per cent higher risk of experiencing heart-related events compared to individuals with regular sleep habits.
Those with moderately irregular sleep were found to be 8 per cent more likely to encounter these serious health issues.