US researchers have found yet another reason to
get sufficient shut-eye, with those that favor an early to bed, early to rise
routine showing more heart-healthy behavior than night owls.
A team of
researchers from the University of Delaware, the University of Pennsylvania,
Drexel University and the University of Arizona College of Medicine looked at
the duration and approximate timing of sleep to see if there was a pattern
between this and three major cardiovascular risk factors — smoking, poor diet
and sedentary habits — which together contribute to around 40 percent of
cardiovascular deaths in the US and the UK.
By using
data from the UK’s Biobank Resource project, which aims to improve the
prevention and treatment of a range of life-threatening illnesses including
cardiovascular disease, the team were able to look at a large sample of 439,933
adults aged of 40-69 for a four-year period between 2006-10.
During
the study participants were asked about their sleep habits, with short sleep
defined as less than six hours, adequate sleep as seven to eight hours, and
long sleep as nine hours or more.
Participants
also defined themselves as a morning person, a more morning than evening
person, more evening than morning, or an evening person.
To find
out more about how heart-healthy their daily behavior was they were also asked
about their levels of physical activity, time spent using a computer or
watching TV, fruits and veg intake, and smoking habits.
Results
showed that getting the right amount of sleep, and at the right times, reduced
the unhealthy lifestyle behaviors associated with poor heart health, with those
whose sleep was either too long or too short, and those who went to bed later,
more likely to smoke, remain sedentary and eat fewer fruits and vegetables than
those who got an adequate amount of sleep and went to bed earlier.
Commenting
on the results, Freda Patterson, one of the study’s co-authors said, “These
data suggest that it’s not just sleep deprivation that relates to
cardiovascular risk behaviors, but too much sleep can relate as well.
“If we
can modify sleep as a central risk factor, we might be in much better position
to leverage or modify some of our most stubborn cardiovascular risk behaviors
such as tobacco use.”
However
Patterson did also acknowledge that the study had limitations. Despite a huge
number of participants the sample lacked diversity, and as a large part of the
data was based on self-report, it was also subject to errors. The team now
recommend further study in the area.
The study
was published online in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
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