We all love eating into our sleep time to... just while away our time, I guess. Whether it’s randomly scrolling through our phones or binging on TV shows, most people are up till wee hours even on work or school nights.
Not that we don’t already know how it’s harming us. But here’s another warning.
A new study has linked inadequate sleep to cardiovascular disease. It found that men who sleep five hours or less per night have twice the risk of developing a major cardiovascular event during the following two decades of their lives than those who sleep seven to eight hours.
Moa Bengtsson, author of the research which was recently presented at a meeting in Germany, has said that the study was observational. Therefore, it can’t be definitely said that less sleep will cause cardiovascular disease or sleeping more will reduce the risk, but the findings suggest that some link is there and sleep is important for good health. Further ANI quoted her as saying:
For people with busy lives, sleeping may feel like a waste of time but our study suggests that short sleep could be linked with future cardiovascular disease.
The study was conducted over 21 years, tracking now 50-year-old men. The participants were monitored for the occurrence of major cardiovascular events, which included heart attack, stroke, hospitalisation due to heart failure, coronary revascularisation, or death from cardiovascular disease.
Compared to those with normal sleep duration, men who slept five or fewer hours per night had a two-fold higher risk of having a major cardiovascular event by age 71, in the study.
It was observed that high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, smoking, low physical activity, and poor sleep quality were more common in men who slept five or fewer hours per night compared to those who got seven to eight hours.
Even though there is no cause and effect that has been established between the two, there’s enough evidence to suggest that sleeping less is harming your health in more ways than one.
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