You may be more susceptible to these fatal health problems if you sleep at a different time each night: Research

You may be more susceptible to these fatal health problems if you sleep at a different time each night: Research

The most extensive study of its kind indicates that even for people who obtain a full night's sleep, not adhering to a normal bedtime and wake-up time raises the risk of stroke, heart attack, and heart failure by 26%. Prior research has examined the connections between sleep length and health outcomes, and it is recommended that individuals get seven to nine hours of sleep each night.

Although it's common knowledge that sleeping at strange hours is bad for your health, a recent study indicates that it may even be lethal. Even if you're getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep every night, new study suggests that irregular sleep patterns can raise your risk of serious cardiovascular events like heart disease or stroke.

These results are noteworthy because prior research has mostly examined the health consequences of sleep length rather than the influence of maintaining a regular sleep-wake cycle. "Our findings imply that sleep regularity may be more important than adequate sleep duration in regulating the risk of MACE [major adverse cardiovascular event]," the study's research team claimed. For a week, 72,269 participants between the ages of 40 and 79 wore an activity tracker to evaluate their sleep habits. None of the individuals had ever experienced a stroke or heart condition.

In the following eight years, the study team collected data on heart attacks, heart failure, and strokes and discovered that people who slept irregularly had a 26% higher risk of suffering a severe cardiovascular event compared to people who went to bed at roughly the same time every night. A relatively regular sleep schedule increased the risk of this kind of life-threatening incident by 8%.

A regular sleep pattern also increased the likelihood of getting the necessary amount of sleep each night, which is seven to eight hours for people over 65 and seven to nine for people between the ages of 18 and 64, according to the study. Additionally, they discovered that the cardiovascular risks among irregular sleepers were not mitigated by attempting to make up for missing sleep.

The Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health published these findings. The sleep tracker did not differentiate between conscious resting and sleep, and the sleep data was only gathered for a week. These were two of the study's weaknesses. Additionally, napping was ignored. However, this recent study shows a high correlation between the risk of heart disease or stroke and not going to bed at the same time every night. According to the study's findings, "because of its possible role in cardiovascular health, sleep regularity needs to be given more attention in public health guidelines and clinical practice," the authors stated.