Sleep deprivation poses heart risks for women
Goodnight, Sweetheart
It’s just not fair…
In recent years we’ve learned that women are more likely than men to develop heart disease.
And you know how it goes with unfairness – when it rains it pours. New research confirms that the amount of sleep you get has a significant effect on heart health. And guess what? Yep – the downside is much more pronounced in women than men.
Not fair!
Aiming for eight
A team of UK researchers examined records for more than 4,600 men and women who participated in the Whitehall II study – an ongoing research project designed to investigate risk factors of major diseases.
The objective: To assess the relationship between sleep habits and two key heart disease markers: interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP). In patients with heart disease and other serious heart issues, these two markers are usually elevated.
Analysis revealed no relationship in the overall group. But when the records for men and women were reviewed separately, women (but not men) who slept eight hours each night had lower IL-6 levels than women who averaged just one hour less per night. And in women who were “short sleepers” (average: five hours per night), CRP levels were significantly higher than in women who averaged eight hours.
Researchers noted that although risk among women was higher compared to men, the guys shouldn’t assume they get a free pass. Chronic sleep deprivation is hard on the heart, no matter your gender.
The study revealed one other general trend we’ve seen in previous sleep research: Subjects who slept too little (an average of less than seven hours per night) or too much (an average of nine hours or more per night) tended to be in poorer health and were more likely to follow unhealthy lifestyle choices.
Dreaming and driving
A 2006 car accident did more to alert the world to the dangers of prescription sleep aids than any black box warning ever could.
When Rhode Island Representative Patrick Kennedy smashed his Mustang into a highway barrier in Washington, D.C., three years ago, his state of disorientation was attributed to Ambien use. That’s when most of us found out that Ambien and other similar sleep aids sometimes prompt extreme cases of sleep walking and other activities that are best done awake. Like driving.
So if you’re having trouble sleeping, you might want to check Ambien off your list of potential aids.
Where to turn? According to Dr. William B. Ferril, you can talk it out.
In an article titled “Talking Yourself to Sleep,” which appears on the Healthier Talk website, Dr. Ferril describes a Journal of the American Medical Association study in which “talk therapy” was compared to pharmaceutical sleep aids. During the six-month intervention, talk therapy was actually more effective than drugs.
But if talking isn’t your style then you might be interested in a sleep supplement that’s featured in the August 2009 HSI Members Alert. Managing editor Melissa Hickle offers details about a unique formula that combines well-known sleep aids (such as melatonin and magnesium glycinate) with components of traditional Chinese medicine.
HSI members can use their password to access Melissa’s article, titled “The deep sleep you need to face the day – with ZERO side effects,” on our website at hsionline.com.
The HSI Members Alert provides a convenient way to stay informed about all of the most groundbreaking advances in nutrition and alternative medicine. Find out how you can be among the very first to learn about cutting edge cures you’ll rarely hear about in the mainstream media.
Source:
“Gender Differences in the Cross-Sectional Relationships Between Sleep Duration and Markers of Inflammation: Whitehall II Study” Sleep, Vol. 32, No. 7, 7/1/09, journalsleep.org
“Omalizumab May Be Linked to Cardiovascular Adverse Events” Neil Osterweil, Medscape Medical News, 7/16/09, medscape.com
