If your sleep life is anything like mine, you may be in danger! I suffer from serious sleep issues and have honestly not had a good night’s sleep in at least 3 years. Pregnancy and then parenthood is what did me in. I am chronically tired and lack energy. It’s awful. So is the news below……
According to a large British study just released, people who do not get enough sleep are more than twice as likely to die of heart disease.
Although the reasons are unclear, researchers said lack of sleep appeared to be linked to increased blood pressure, which is known to raise the risk of heart attacks and stroke.
A 17-year analysis of 10,000 government workers showed those who cut their sleeping from seven hours a night to five or less faced a 1.7-fold increased risk in mortality from all causes and more than double the risk of cardiovascular death.
A third of the population of the UK and over 40 percent in the U.S. regularly sleep less than five hours a night, so it is not a trivial problem.
The study looked at sleep patterns of participants aged 35-55 years at two points in their lives — 1985-88 and 1992-93 — and then tracked their mortality rates until 2004.
The results were adjusted to take account of other possible risk factors such as initial age, sex, smoking and alcohol consumption, body mass index, blood pressure and cholesterol.
In terms of prevention, the findings indicate that consistently sleeping around seven hours per night is optimal for health.
September 25, 2007
