Poor Sleep Causes Heart Attack, Stroke, Lower Bone Formation

Scientists have associated sleeplessness (insomnia) with increased risk of heart attack, stroke and lower bone formation. They also found that dozing for less than 30 minutes in afternoon and eating peanuts improve sense of well-being and prevent heart attack and stroke.

The first study published was March 31, 2017, in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology First author and a Master’s degree student at China Medical University, Shenyang, China, Qiao He, said: “Sleep is important for biological recovery and takes around a third of our lifetime, but in modern society more and more people complain of insomnia. For example, it is reported that approximately one-third of the general population in Germany has suffered from insomnia symptoms.

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“Researchers have found associations between insomnia and poor health outcomes. But the links between insomnia and heart disease or stroke have been inconsistent.” The current meta-analysis assessed the association between insomnia symptoms and incidence or death from cardiovascular disease (acute myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, heart failure), stroke, or a combination of events. Insomnia symptoms included difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, early-morning awakening, and non-restorative sleep.

Also, results of a new study presented Saturday at the Endocrine Society’s 99th annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, United States, showed that insufficient sleep, a common problem that has been linked to chronic disease risk, might also be an unrecognized risk factor for bone loss. The study investigators found that healthy men had reduced levels of a marker of bone formation in their blood after three weeks of cumulative sleep restriction and circadian disruption, similar to that seen in jet lag or shift work, while a biological marker of bone resorption, or breakdown, was unchanged.

Also, research suggests that the secret of happiness could be as simple as having a quick snooze in the daytime. A study found that taking naps of less than 30 minutes improves our sense of well-being, as well as boosting performance.

The researchers have suggested a new word to describe the contented feeling after a brief doze: ‘nappiness’. Prof. Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, said: “Previous research has shown that naps of under 30 minutes make you more focused, productive and creative, and these new findings suggest … that you can also become happier by just taking a short nap.”