The right amount of sleep

Getting enough sleep?

I think most adults would probably answer “no” to that question. In these busy times, sleep is often compromised by late-to-bed, early-to-rise schedules. The problem is – you might be putting your heart in jeopardy.

A Canadian study of well over 70,000 U.S. women (all healthcare professionals, 45-65 years old, enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study) showed that those averaging five hours or less sleep per night were almost 50 percent more likely to develop heart disease than those who slept eight hours per night.

The risk of heart disease was reduced dramatically for women who slept an average of six or seven hours per night, compared with those who slept five.

It would seem that for most of us, seven or eight hours is best for optimal heart health. Less than that places stress on the heart, probably due to increased blood pressure and decreased glucose intolerance – two known hazards of sleep deprivation, according to previous studies.

But this is not a case of more being better. The unusual finding in this study was that women who slept nine or more hours per night actually had a greater risk of heart disease when compared to those who slept between six and eight hours.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute

Sources:
“A Prospective Study of Sleep Duration and Coronary Heart Disease In Women” Archives of Internal Medicine, 2003 Jan 27;163(2);205-9
“Too Much or Two Little Sleep May Lead to Heart Attacks” Dr. Joseph Mercola, 2/12/03, mercola.com