Getting enough sleep has been proven to help keep the body healthy and the mind sharp. But it's not just a matter of sleeping for at least seven hours. A new study on sleep patterns suggests that regular bedtime and wake times for older people are just as important for heart and metabolic health. In a study of 1,978 older adults, researchers found that people with irregular sleep patterns weighed more, had higher blood sugar, higher blood pressure and a higher expected risk of having a heart attack or stroke within 10 years than those who slept at the same time each day. and awakened. Irregular sleepers were also more likely to report depression and stress than regular sleepers, both of which are linked to heart health. The findings show an association – not a cause-and-effect relationship – between sleep regularity and cardiovascular and metabolic health.
Participants used devices that tracked sleep schedules down to the minute so that researchers could see if even subtle changes — going to bed at 10:10 p.m. instead of the usual 10 p.m. - were linked to the health of the child. Attendees. Their ages ranged from 54 to 93, and people with diagnosed sleep disorders such as sleep apnea were not included.
The study also tracked the participants' sleep duration and preferred timing — whether someone went to sleep early or was a night owl. According to these measures, people with hypertension tended to sleep longer, and people with obesity tended to stay up later.
However, of all three measures, regularity was the best way to predict a person's heart and metabolic disease risk, the researchers found. As you might expect, irregular sleepers were more sleepy and less active during the day – perhaps because they were tired.
