Sleep
difficulties, a problem for as many as 70% of people, can double one's risk of
heart attack or stroke, according to a study.
The study by researchers in Taiwan found
that people with insomnia were twice as likely to have heart attacks or strokes
as those without the sleep disorder during the trial's four- year period. The
research was presented Sunday at the American Heart Association meeting in Los
Angeles.
The findings add to previous research showing not enough
sleep can contribute to high blood pressure and waking too early may raise
heart risks. Sleep should be part of the patient- doctor discussion during
checkups, said Kristen Knutson, a sleep researcher who wasn't part of the
study.
"A lot of people and many physicians don't ask about
sleep," said Knutson, an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine
at the University of Chicago, in a telephone interview. "The first thing
is to talk to their patients and also for the patients to talk to their doctors
about their sleep and discussing sleep as one of the many important health
behaviors like diet and exercise."
No one is certain how lack of sleep contributes to heart
attacks and strokes, she said. It may be that the body's "fight or
flight" system is more active with not enough sleep, which can increase
heart rate and over time increase blood pressure and raise the risk for
cardiovascular disease, she said.
Chronic insomnia affects about 1 in 5 adults, and is also
a risk factor for depression, substance abuse, and impaired waking function,
according to the National Institutes of Health.
Researchers in the study looked at more than 43,000
people ages 45 or older who were part of the Taiwan National Health Insurance
Research Database, including 10,871 who were diagnosed with insomnia.
They found that over four years, there were 424 heart
attacks and 3,307 strokes. Those in the insomnia group were 2.3 times more
likely to have a heart attack and 1.99 times more likely to have a stroke than
those who didn't suffer from the sleep disorder, the authors said.
Few studies have looked at the relationship between insomnia
and heart events in Asian populations, Chien-Yi Hsu, the study's lead
researcher, said in a Nov. 3 email. Based on the results, doctors should add
sleep disturbances to the list of modifiable factors that may help prevent
heart disease, including high blood pressure, smoking, obesity and diet, he
said.
"Doctors should pay more attention to their
patient's insomnia symptoms, and consider using different methods to improve
sleep, including medical, psychological or behavioral therapy, which might
improve subject quality of life and reduce the risk of cardiovascular
disease," said Hsu, a doctor in the Division of Cardiology at Taipei
Veterans General Hospital.
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