SLEEP ON IT: Good-quality sleep is gravely underrated
May 02, 2019 • 1 min read
Chest-beaters who shout about sleeping when they’re dead are likely to find eternal resting peace earlier than the rest of us.
Long-term consequences of sleep disruption are linked to a galaxy of health risks, including cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer. All-cause mortality is also increased in men with sleep disturbances. But notching up the magic eight hours of sleep is proving elusive for one-third of adult Americans. According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 35 percent of adults in the US regularly sleep less than seven hours per 24.
Poor sleep, bad heart
Recent studies have linked poor sleep with atherosclerosis (plaque comprising calcium, fat, and cholesterol that collects in your arteries), which can lead to coronary heart disease. Researchers drafted two groups of mice, allowing one group to sleep soundly and disrupting sleep of the other.
Disrupted-sleep mice developed arterial plaques that were up to one third larger than plaque measured in the soundly sleeping mice. Turns out disrupted sleep reduces hypocretin (a peptide that regulates arousal, wakefulness, and appetite) and in turn promotes the production of inflammatory white blood cells – a key mechanism of atherosclerosis.
Sleep is your best medicine.