Falling asleep at this time may protect your heart

Bedtime can affect your risk of heart disease.In fact, according to researchers, there is a sweet spot for heart health to fall asleep: 10 pm to 11 pm

Analysis of data from more than 88,000 adults tracked for approximately 6 years shows that those who disembark between 11:00 pm and 11:59 pm are at a 12% higher risk, late at night or later. According to a report published Monday in the European Heart Journal-Digital Health, falling asleep before 10 pm increased the risk by 24%.

“The body has a 24-hour internal clock. Circadian rhythmDavid Plans, a neuroscientist and psychologist who co-authored the study and is a senior lecturer in tissue neuroscience at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. “We cannot conclude a causal relationship from our study, but the results suggest that early or late bedtime is more likely. Disturb the body clock, Has a negative effect on cardiovascular health. “

To find out how different bedtime affects heart health, Plans and his colleagues provided information on more than 500,000 volunteers aged 37-73, recruited between 2006 and 2010. We turned to UK Biobank, which holds and provides information on demographics, lifestyle and health. Their physical health was also evaluated.

The researchers focused on 88,926 adults with an average age of 61 years, wearing an accelerometer (a device that records when a person moves) on their wrists for seven days. Using accelerometer data, researchers determined the time of sleep onset and awakening.

During an average follow-up of 5.7 years, 3,172 (3.6%) volunteers experienced cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, and heart failure. Incidents were the highest and lowest sleep times in people after midnight.I fell asleep from 10 pm to 10:59 pm

After midnight, even when many factors are considered, including age, gender, sleep time, sleep irregularities, early rising or staying up late, smoking status, weight index, diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, socioeconomic status, etc. Getting to sleep on a regular basis was still associated with the greatest increased risk of heart disease.

The increased risk was more pronounced in women who later fell asleep. Men were at increased risk of heart only when they fell asleep before 10 pm in the evening.

Dr. Francoise Marvel, assistant professor and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Digital Health Lab at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, said the new study “really reinforces what we know from a cardiovascular risk prevention perspective. Sleep It’s a risk factor. ” “But there is a big and important gap to be aware of. At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that improving sleep effectively reduces cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes.”

Previous studies have suggested that sleep time is important, according to Marvel.A new study did not look at wake-up time along with sleep onset, but is a major American Heart Association Preventive guidelines She said that people who sleep less than 6 hours are at risk for high blood pressure, a major cardiovascular risk factor.

Dr. Roxana Melan, an interventional cardiologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and a professor of medicine, cardiology, artificial health sciences and policy, said the study was particularly “interesting” in the findings of women. Said. ..

Cardiovascular disease According to the American Heart Association, it is the number one cause of death in the United States.

“So we need to understand what is more important or less important to prevent heart disease in women,” Mehran said.

Still, she said the findings need to be taken with a grain of salt. New studies show relevance, but do not prove that falling asleep later or earlier than the time between 10 pm and 11 pm causes heart disease. Other factors may be the real cause of stress, anxiety, depression, etc., she said.

This story first appeared NBCNews.com..