Late Nights Linked To Artery Problems
If you regularly stay up late, you might be putting yourself at risk for some pretty serious artery problems. A study, presented at the American College of Cardiology's 58th Annual Scientific Sessions, looked at the link between bedtimes and health, and found that men who went to bed after midnight have much greater degree arterial stiffening, an early signal of atherosclerosis, which is plaque build up on the insides of the arteries.
"There have been many studies about the relationship between sleep - mainly sleep duration - and occurrence of disease, but it remains unclear how bedtime affects cardiovascular risk factors and arterial stiffness, which is the first indication of hardening of the arteries," said Yu Misao, MD, PhD, the study author.
Could those late nights be affecting the health of your heart?
A study by Misao and colleagues carried out research to answer this question by testing 251 healthy men no older than 60.
Every year the subjects blood pressure, weight, waist circumference, body mass index (BMI) and lipid levels were all measured and recorded.
Brachial ankle pulse wave velocity was used to check for evidence of any arterial stiffening, and any connection with sleeping habits.
Six hours, 20 minutes sleep a night was the average, and most of the subjects declared that they went bed at 11:30 pm.
The research found that the fewer hours a man slept each night, the higher his blood pressure, triglyceride levels and blood cholesterol levels were.
"This is consistent with previous reports showing that short sleep duration may negatively affect cardiovascular risk factors," Misao explains.
How much the subjects slept appeared to have no bearing on arterial stiffness.
What the team did next was to divide the subjects into three groups according to how many hours they slept at night - less than 6, 6-7 or 7+ hours.
In each group, the subjects who went to bed before midnight had the more relaxed arteries, as compared to men who went to bed after 12:00.
Although it is not clear why this is the case, Misao speculates that being up late allows for more snacking, leading to obesity, a known risk factor for heart disease.
Another potential theory is that going to bed after midnight might kick start the sympathetic nervous system - known to increase the body's functions like heart rate as well as how the body reacts to stress.
Maybe burning the midnight oil could be throwing the internal clock off and cause problems in ways we don't understand.
So while staying up late can help us get things done, or give us a bit of peace after a demanding day, it may also put strain on your arteries, heart and perhaps your whole cardiovascular system.
Other large studies have associated chronic sleep loss with serious conditions like diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
You don't need to be told by a medial professional that getting the right amount of sleep helps you function at your best, makes you better able to mange stress and ready to handle physical challenges or fight off illness.
And while this doesn't mean you have to alter your sleeping patterns, if works for you, it doesn't hurt to understand the potential link between later bedtimes and heart health.
Good sleep habits, including a getting a sleep routine and having a restful place to sleep are important steps to helping you get the rest your body desires.
You might also want to focus your time and energy on what researchers already know helps to minimize the risk for artery problems - eating a healthy, balanced diet and exercising most days of the week.
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