A recent study has shown that adults 45 and older who have irregular sleeping patterns have heightened risks of developing atherosclerosis. This is in comparison with those who have consistent sleeping schedules and habits.
What Is Atherosclerosis?
According to the Mayo Clinic, atherosclerosis takes place when cholesterol, fat, and other substances build up on and in artery walls. This buildup is known as plaque, which may cause arteries to become narrow and ultimately block the flow of blood. These plaques may also burst and lead to blood clots.
Researchers have now looked into how adult sleeping patterns affect their risk of developing this cardiovascular condition.
Irregular Sleeping Patterns Boost Risks of Atherosclerosis
The study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. According to Kelsie Full, Ph.D., M.P.H., the study's lead author and an assistant medicine professor at Vanderbilt University's epidemiology division, this study is among the first to offer proof that there is a link between irregular sleep timing and duration as well as atherosclerosis.
As per SciTechDaily, the study covered over 2,000 adults, with the mean age being 69 years. More than half of the participants were women, while 11% identified as Chinese American adults, 23% as Hispanic American adults, 28% as African American adults, and 35% as white adults.
The American Heart Association also notes that the participants were selected from the MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis), which covered women and men from 45 to 84 years old. These participants were also clinically free of cardiovascular conditions and were from six communities across the US.
From 2010 to 2013, the participants wore a wrist device that monitored their sleep and wakefulness. They also filled out a sleep journal for seven days straight. On top of this, the participants also did an in-house, single-night sleep study to assess the presence of sleep disorders.
In the study, the researchers defined sleep duration as the total time one spent fully asleep in bed. They also described sleep timing as the time a person sleeps each evening.
Within a week, the greatest variety in sleeping time was over 2 hours. Participants with the greatest sleep timing irregularities had varied sleep time by over 1.5 hours in a single week.
Looking into the participants' hearts, the researchers assessed plaque presence in the arteries. They did so by measuring the buildup of calcified fatty plaque (coronary artery calcium), thickness of the neck arteries' two internal layers (carotid intima-media thickness), buildup of fatty plaque in the neck arteries (carotid plaque presence), and narrowed peripheral arteries (ankle-brachial index), as reported by SciTechDaily.
They also looked into the patients' health records and demographics for analysis.
Upon analysis, their findings revealed that participants who had irregular sleep durations, with over 2-hour variations in a week, had a 1.4 higher chance of getting high levels of coronary artery calcium compared to others with a consistent sleep duration. Such levels refer to the extent of calcified plaque present inside the arteries. This is vital because it is the main reason why strokes and heart attacks take place.
They also found out that these participants with irregular sleep durations, who also had over 2-hour variations in a week, had a 1.12 higher likelihood of getting carotid plaques. On top of this, their chances of getting abnormal ankle-brachial index results also doubled. This tests stiffness within the blood vessels and systemic atherosclerosis.
Aside from that, the researchers also discovered that those who had irregular sleep timing that varied by over 90 minutes in a week had a 1.43 higher chance of getting high scores of coronary artery calcium.
All of these findings suggest that having regular sleep schedules and reducing the variability in sleep do not just improve one's restedness but also decrease the risk for cardiovascular conditions among adults.
However, the study has a limitation due to its cross-sectional nature. Since atherosclerosis and sleep were measured simultaneously, the researchers were unable to gauge if greater irregularity in sleep could cause atherosclerosis. Nevertheless, the results offer a better understanding of the links between sleep and cardiovascular risk.
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