New research has revealed that good sleepers could be 75 percent less likely to suffer from heart disease or stroke.
The research, led by researchers from INSERM, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, and looked at more than 7,000 healthy over-50s over a 10-year-period. The findings were presented earlier this week at the European Society of Cardiology’s annual congress in Barcelona.
It was found that as many as nine in ten people do not get a good night’s sleep, and this could be increasing their risk of heart disease or stroke.
Those who slept well saw their risk of heart disease or stroke drop by 75 percent compared by the poorest sleepers involved in the study. The scientists also estimated that if everyone slept well, potentially lethal cardiac events would fall by as much as 72 percent.
"The low prevalence of good sleepers was expected given our busy, 24/7 lives," said study author Dr. Aboubakari Nambiema of INSERM.
"The importance of sleep quality and quantity for heart health should be taught early in life when healthy behaviours become established. Minimising night-time noise and stress at work can both help improve sleep."
In the study, participants were given a healthy sleep score ranging from zero to five, with zero or one considered poor and five considered optimal.
Those with an optimal score reported sleeping seven to eight hours per night, never or rarely having insomnia, no frequent excessive daytime sleepiness, no sleep apnoea, and an early chronotype (being a morning person).
The researchers checked for incident coronary heart disease and stroke every two years for a total of 10 years. Of the 7,200 participants, 10 percent had an optimal sleep score and 8 percent had a poor score.
During the first eight years of the study, 274 participants developed coronary heart disease or stroke. The researchers analysed the association between sleep scores and cardiovascular events after adjusting for age, sex, alcohol consumption, occupation, smoking, body mass index, physical activity, cholesterol level, diabetes, and family history of heart attack, stroke or sudden cardiac death.
They found that the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke decreased by 22 percent for every one point rise in the sleep score at baseline.
Dr. Nambiema said: “Our study illustrates the potential for sleeping well to preserve heart health and suggests that improving sleep is linked with lower risks of coronary heart disease and stroke. We also found that the vast majority of people have sleep difficulties. Given that cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death worldwide, greater awareness is needed on the importance of good sleep for maintaining a healthy heart."
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