You can be an avid marathon
runner, health food nut, gym rat, non-smoker, non-drinker, and even a
relatively stress-free lean person but still suffer the consequences of getting
less-than-adequate sleep in the form of a heart attack at a
young age.
Just ask Ranjan Das’s family, who are still scratching their heads as to why he suffered a massive heart attack at the age of 42. He was a young and popular CEO in India and famously freakish about fitness. He seemed to do everything right but sleep—getting only 4 to 5 hours a night when he really needed more.
News like this should remind
us that getting enough sleep is a vital sign of health just like blood pressure
or respiratory rate.
A growing body of
evidence is linking lack of sleep with heart disease. What if being sleep
deprived is just as bad as having high cholesterol and elevated blood
pressure? Some of the documented findings of late:
- According to the
report, sleeping fewer than six hours a
night has been linked to an increased
risk for high blood pressure by 350 to 500 percent compared to those who
slept longer than 6 hours per night.
- Young people
(25-49 years of age) are twice as likely to get high blood pressure if they
sleep less.
- Individuals who
slept less than 5 hours a night had
a 3-fold increased risk of heart attacks.
- Complete and
partial lack of sleep increased the blood concentrations of C-Reactive Protein, the strongest
predictor of heart attacks. Even after getting adequate sleep later, the levels
stayed high!
- Just one night
of sleep loss increases very toxic
substances in body that increase risks of many medical conditions,
including cancer, arthritis and heart disease.
In terms of overall
percentages, researchers have found that sleeping just five hours or less a
night leads to a 39 percent increase in
heart disease. Sleeping for six hours or less per night leads to an 18
percent increase in heart disease.
It’s a forgone conclusion:
if you’re not getting your ZZZs to match your body’s needs, which for most of
us means at least seven
hours a night, then you might as well sit on the couch and eat pork rinds
while you think about that ticking time bomb in your chest. Nothing against pork rinds (or sitting
on the couch), but you get what I mean.
Sleep. It’s good
for your heart.
Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD, DABSM
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/thesleepdoctor
Click here to order Dr. Breus's book, Beauty Sleep, on Amazon or Kindle, or here to buy it for the Barnes & Noble Nook.
That is very shocking and it should remind us the importance of a good night's sleep for the physical health of our hearts.
Posted by: Mary | March 17, 2010 at 10:23 PM
My aunt was only 44 years old when she had her first heart attack, and 45 when she had the second one. She has been getting treatment ever since, but until then, she had the exact same problem: an average of 4-5 hours of sleep per night.
Posted by: ioana | March 17, 2010 at 01:19 PM