We all know how important it is to get a good night’s sleep—but it may be even more significant than you realise and could be preventing heart disease.
If quality sleep protects the heart, the reverse is also true: chronic insomnia increases the risk of a heart attack, stroke and AFib (atrial fibrillation), or irregular heartbeat.
Even a few nights of poor sleep increase proteins that are linked to heart disease, say researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden.
They tested the impact of sleeplessness on a group of 16 young volunteers who usually slept well. Half continued to have a full night’s sleep, but the others had their sleep interrupted and slept for just four hours for three consecutive nights.
By the end of the trial, the sleepless group had more proteins and inflammatory markers in their body that have been linked to heart disease—but the good news was that high-intensity exercise reduced levels significantly.
While that’s a good remedy when you’ve had a few bad nights, it’s not a long term solution and exercise can’t give the body the other qualities that deep sleep provides.
The results also underline the importance of sleep, and insomniacs need to find ways to improve their sleeping habits, whether that’s from exercise, a better diet or switching off all electronic devices at least an hour before heading to bed.
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