To Your Health
June, 2020 (Vol. 14, Issue 06) |
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Too Little Sleep Could Be Deadly
By Editorial Staff
Research is increasingly demonstrating the health and wellness benefits of sleep – and the negative consequences of poor sleep. This is all-the-more important because in the past several months, you, like millions of others, have likely experienced less-than-optimal, if not outright atrocious sleep due to the state of the world, from COVID-19 to protests against social injustice and more.
One big problem with poor sleep: it isn't good for your heart. In fact, it can be life-threatening, particularly if you aren't getting enough sleep. According to a new study published in
JAMA Network Open, a publication of the American Medical Association, the less you sleep, the more likely you are to eventually suffer a cardiovascular event (heart attack, stroke, etc.). You're also more likely to die from it or any cause than people with more stable sleep patterns.
The study identified four sleep duration trajectory patterns in evaluating more than 52,000 adults: normal stable (7.4-7.5 of sleep per night), normal decreasing (7.0 to 5.5 hours a night), low increasing (4.9 to 6.9 hours per night) and low stable (4.2 to 4.9 hours nightly). Results showed that compared to subjects with normal-stable patterns of sleep, subjects with low-increasing sleep patterns had a higher risk of suffering a first cardiovascular event; subjects with normal-decreasing patterns had a higher risk of all-cause mortality. Subjects with low-stable patterns (i.e., the least amount of average sleep per night) had the highest risk of experiencing a cardiovascular event or dying from any cause. (Note that all three groups compared to the normal stable group averaged less sleep per night than the normal stable group, with the low-stable group averaging the least of all four.)
So, are you ready to get better sleep – before it takes a toll on your health and maybe even your life? Click here to read last issue's article on easy ways to get better sleep now.
