![]() Still, the study's findings were in participants with no history of cardiovascular disease, so everyone should take heed, Lloyd-Jones said. Sleep interruptions can also be a sign of increased stress or anxiety, he added. "Interrupted sleep - especially (in) those with sleep apnea - usually releases catecholamines like adrenaline, which can do all sorts of things if it's a chronic problem," Freeman said. Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver. Whatever interrupts a person's sleep could result in changes that affect the heart, said Dr. "Without that regular rest, the heart and vascular system are stressed over time." "Sleep is critical for the heart to be able to rest, as that is when heart rate slows and blood pressure normally dips," he added. Lloyd-Jones wasn't involved in the study. Donald Lloyd-Jones, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said via email. "People with less sleep or irregular patterns do tend to have less healthy patterns in other lifestyles (like diet and physical activity)," Dr. The findings of the study published Wednesday could be due to both a direct link between sleep and the heart, and/or other lifestyle factors. Since sleep quality and atherosclerosis were measured at the same time, researchers weren't able to assess or prove whether irregular sleep caused the condition - they found only an association between the two. "These results suggest that maintaining regular or habitual sleep durations, or sleeping close to the same total amount of time each night," Full said, "may play an important role in preventing cardiovascular disease." (This calcium score measures the amount of calcified plaque in arteries a higher number increases the risk of some cardiovascular conditions.) The former group was also more likely to have carotid plaque and abnormal results from a test assessing blood vessel stiffness. Participants also underwent an at-home sleep study to measure breathing, sleep stages, waking during the night and heart rate.Īfter participants' cardiovascular health was assessed during the same time frame, the researchers found those with irregular sleep durations - those that varied by 90 minutes to more than two hours within a week - were about 1.4 times more likely to have high coronary artery calcium scores compared with those with more consistent sleep durations. More than 2,000 participants were recruited between 20 from Minnesota, Maryland, Illinois, North Carolina, California and New York state.ĭuring sleep assessments conducted between 20, participants kept a sleep diary over seven consecutive days and wore a wristwatch that tracked their sleep and wake history. The authors set out to learn more about this relationship by analyzing the sleep of older adults - age 69 on average - who participated in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, a longitudinal cohort study designed to investigate the prevalence and progression of, and risk factors for, cardiovascular disease. Sleep regularity, the new study's authors defined, is estimated by variations in sleep duration (how long someone sleeps each night) and sleep timing (the time when someone falls asleep nightly) - the fewer variations the better. ![]() Poor sleep - including poor quality, abnormal quantity and fragmented sleep - has been linked with cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular disease-related deaths before, but less had been known about the specific associations between sleep regularity and atherosclerosis. ![]() Atherosclerosis can lead to cardiovascular health conditions, including coronary heart disease, angina, heart attacks, strokes and carotid or peripheral artery disease. As plaque accumulates, blood vessel walls thicken, which reduces blood flow and therefore diminishes the amount of oxygen and other nutrients reaching the rest of the body. This plaque is made up of cholesterol, fatty substances, cellular waste products, calcium and fibrin, a clotting agent in the blood. "This study is one of the first investigations to provide evidence of a connection between irregular sleep duration and irregular sleep timing and atherosclerosis," said lead study author Kelsie Full, an assistant professor of medicine in the epidemiology division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.Ītherosclerosis is the buildup of plaque in arteries, according to the American Heart Association. ![]() But in the background, irregular and poor-quality sleeping patterns could increase your risk for developing cardiovascular disease, according to a study published this week in the Journal of the American Heart Association. When you don't get enough good sleep, the short-term consequences are noticeable - maybe you're distracted at work or snappy with loved ones. ![]()
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