We all know that routinely hitting the hay at odd hours isn’t great for your sleep health — but a new study suggests it could be deadly.
New research indicates that having an irregular sleep routine can increase the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart disease or stroke, even if you’re getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night.
Previous studies have mostly focused on the health outcomes of sleep duration as opposed to the impact of having a stable sleep-wake cycle, so these findings are significant.
“Our results suggest that sleep regularity may be more relevant than sufficient sleep duration in modulating MACE [major adverse cardiovascular event] risk,” the study’s research team said.
For the study, 72,269 people aged 40 to 79 wore an activity tracker for one week to assess their sleep patterns. None of the participants had a history of heart disease or stroke.
The data was then collected to calculate each participant’s Sleep Regularity Index score. Those with a score higher than 87 were deemed to have a regular sleep pattern, and those with scores under 72 were determined to have an irregular sleep pattern. Those who were in between categorized as “moderately regular.”
The research team then gathered data on incidents of stroke, heart failure, and heart attacks over the next eight years and found that irregular sleepers were 26% more likely to experience a major cardiovascular event than those who went to bed at approximately the same time every night.
Participants whose sleep schedule was moderately regular were 8% more likely to have this type of life-threatening event.
The study also showed that those with a regular sleep schedule were more likely to achieve the recommended hours of sleep per night — considered to be seven to eight hours for those over 65 and seven to nine for those between 18 and 64.
Furthermore, they found that trying to make up for lost sleep did not offset the cardiovascular risks in irregular sleepers.
These findings were published Tuesday in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
The study had certain limitations, including that the sleep data was only collected throughout the course of one week and the sleep tracker did not distinguish between sleep and conscious resting. Napping was also not taken into account.
Nonetheless, this new research indicates there is a strong link between not going to bed at the same time every night and the risk of heart disease or stroke.
“Findings from this study suggest that more attention needs to be paid to sleep regularity in public health guidelines and clinical practice due to its potential role in cardiovascular health,” the study’s authors said.
