Irregular Sleep Patterns Might Increase The Risk Of Clogged Arteries

A recent study that analyzed sleep data of 2000 adults over the age of 45 warns that frequent irregularities in your sleep duration might increase the risk of developing clogged arteries or a condition called atherosclerosis that is characterized by plaque build-up in the arteries. The findings, which were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association say that going to sleep at different times and frequently changing the amount of time spent sleeping are both risk factors that could potentially lead to hardening of the arteries.

“These results suggest that maintaining regular or habitual sleep durations, or sleeping close to the same total amount of time each night, may play an important role in preventing cardiovascular disease,” said lead author of the study, Kelsie Full, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University’s Division of Epidemiology, in a press release.

The study included participants from different parts of the United States and specifically excluded shift workers and those who were diagnosed with cardiovascular conditions in the past. Full and colleagues then studied 2000 adults’ sleep data over a period of one week. Almost 54% of the participants were women. While 37.9% were white, the others belonged to different racial and ethnic groups including Chinese Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans.

“In this racially and ethnically diverse sample of older adults, participants with greater sleep duration irregularity were more likely to have a high burden of atherosclerosis as measured across several subclinical markers, specifically higher coronary artery calcium (CAC). These associations persisted after adjusting for BMI and prevalent cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors,” the researchers wrote in their study. “When we examined sleep timing regularity, we observed an association between greater sleep timing irregularity and high CAC burden but not with other measures of subclinical CVD.”

“While it is common for sleep patterns to change as adults age, the proportion of the general population with irregular sleep patterns, who are not shift workers, may be concerning given the growing evidence linking sleep irregularity with CVD risk,” they added. “Sleep regularity may be a modifiable dimension of sleep that can be targeted to reduce CVD risk in ageing adults. In fact, maintaining a regular sleep schedule and decreasing variability in sleep is a key component of clinical sleep hygiene recommendations. Our findings suggest that these recommendations—that were developed to improve sleep—also may be useful as a cardiovascular health promotion strategy.”

The team further hypothesized that the reason why there is a strong association between sleep irregularities and atherosclerosis is due to repeated disruptions to the brain’s circadian rhythm and desynchronization of sleep–wake timing.

In fact, your brain’s internal clock that dictates circadian rhythms also regulates most major cardiovascular functions. This includes your heart rate, blood pressure, and vascular tone, among others.

“Disruption or misalignment of circadian rhythms can interrupt these important cardiovascular functions, resulting in the promotion of chronic inflammation, alterations in glucose metabolism, heightened sympathetic nervous system activation, and increases in arterial pressures, all predisposing to the risk of atherosclerosis progression,” the researchers concluded.