In the past, heart disease was only believed to occur with age-related complications. The recent spike in heart attacks among people has proved this notion wrong. The worst thing is that these days, even young and healthy people are prone to heart attacks. Reasons for heart attacks are many, ranging from smoking, a high-fat diet, and diabetes to irregularities in sleep patterns. This irregularity involves chronically disrupted sleep and highly variable sleep durations. This observation has been found in a study done by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, USA. This team of researchers was led by a doctor named Kelsie Full. The study was published on February 15 in the Journal of the American Heart Association. In this study, participants were selected from six communities in the United States and closely monitored for seven days. The study has excluded shift workers because they are likely to have irregular sleep patterns. Those with existing heart disease and obstructive sleep apnea, a known risk factor for coronary artery disease were also excluded.
The results obtained from this study were quite alarming. Participants with greater irregularity in their sleep duration were more likely to have a higher burden of coronary artery calcium. The coronary artery calcium (CAC) score measures the amount of calcified plaque people have in arteries. Coronary plaque is the main cause of heart attacks and strokes. More plaque in carotid arteries means greater systemic atherosclerosis and stiffness in the blood vessels. This condition is commonly referred to as the hardening of the arteries. Apart from the coronary plaque, the body’s circadian rhythm can also be disrupted by the lack of sleep. According to the Sleep Foundation, Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles that are part of the body’s internal clock. They carry out essential functions and processes. One of the most important circadian rhythms is the sleep-wake cycle.
What can be the possible solution to this problem? Dr Kelsie Full spoke about it to the university’s news portal. She said, “These results suggest that maintaining regular or habitual sleep durations, or sleeping close to the same total amount of time each night, may play an important role in preventing cardiovascular disease.” Keeping these results in mind, she said that doctors need to encourage their patients to maintain regular sleep patterns. This can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
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