Story at a glance
- Individuals with insomnia were 69 percent more likely to experience a heart attack than those without the condition.
- Findings underscore the important role quality sleep plays in overall health.
- In the United States, more than one third of adults do not get enough sleep on a regular basis.
Getting adequate sleep each night can be crucial to maintain energy levels and improving brain performance. Now, new research shows it may also help stave off heart attacks.
A review of previously published studies found insomnia and sleeping five hours or less each night are linked with an increased risk of heart attacks.
The findings, published in the journal Clinical Cardiology, are based on nine studies that included over 1.1 million patients. The average patient age was 52 and 96 percent of patients had no prior history of a heart attack. The studies include patients from the United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, Taiwan and China.
Those with insomnia were 69 percent more likely to have a heart attack than those without the disorder during an average follow-up of nine years.
Rates were even higher in those with diabetes and insomnia. Individuals with insomnia and high blood pressure or cholesterol were also at a greater risk.
Those who slept five hours or less each night had the greatest risk of experiencing a heart attack compared with those who slept between seven and eight hours.
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The increased risk was present regardless of age, and women with insomnia were more likely to have heart attacks than men with the condition.
Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder and affects between 10 and 15 percent of the U.S. population, researchers wrote. It can include trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or getting good quality sleep. Women are more likely than men to have insomnia.
A total of 153,881 participants included in the study had insomnia and 1,030,375 did not. Of those with the condition, 2,406 had heart attacks during the follow-up window, compared with 12,398 of those without the condition.
An additional analysis of the data showed trouble falling asleep or staying asleep was linked with a 13 percent increased risk of a heart attack.
“In many ways [insomnia is] no longer just an illness, it’s more of a life choice,” said study author Yomna E. Dean, a medical student at Alexandria University in Alexandria, Egypt.
“We just don’t prioritize sleep as much as we should,” Dean said in a release.
People with insomnia suffer from chronic stress and high cortisol levels due to a lack of sleep, two factors that worsen the risk of a heart attack. Despite this, insomnia is not considered a risk factor for heart attacks.
“Based on our pooled data, insomnia should be considered a risk factor for developing a heart attack, and we need to do a better job of educating people about how dangerous [lack of good sleep] can be,” Dean said.
CDC data show more than a third of American adults do not get enough sleep on a regular basis.
Results also found no difference in heart attack risk between those who got five or fewer hours of sleep each night or nine or more hours, underscoring findings from previous research that suggest getting too much sleep can also harm heart health, authors said.
However, nonrestorative sleep and daytime dysfunction were not associated with an increased heart attack risk, indicating those who only complain about feeling unrefreshed but get adequate sleep are not at a heightened risk.
To get more quality sleep, individuals can improve sleep hygiene. This can include sleeping in a dark, quiet, cool room, with devices put away.
“Do something that is calming to wind down, and if you have tried all these things and still can’t sleep or are sleeping less than five hours, talk with your doctor,” Dean said.
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