Adults who consider themselves “night owls” tend to score low on the following: cardiovascular health Increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
That’s according to a new study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, which looked at how a person’s chronotype (their natural tendency to be active in the morning or evening) is related to their overall heart health.
According to a press release, researchers looked at 14 years of UK Biobank data from around 300,000 adults with an average age of 57. the study.
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About 8% of participants described themselves as “definitely night owls,” meaning they stayed up very late. A further 24% say they are “definitely a morning person,” as they tend to wake up early and get going. Please go to bed early.
The largest “middle” group, comprising 67% of participants, said they were either unsure or did not belong to either group.
Each person’s heart health was determined using the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 score.
“Life’s Essential 8 measures your activity level, diet, blood pressure, cholesterol, nicotine use, sleep patterns, weight management, and blood sugar level” said Dr. Bradley Serwer, an interventional cardiologist and chief medical officer at VitalSolution, an Ingenovis Health company.
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Researchers also looked at the incidence of heart attacks. or stroke During the follow-up period.
The researchers found that people who were more active in the evenings (‘night owls’) had a 79% higher risk of poor cardiovascular health and a 16% higher risk of heart attack or stroke than the intermediate group.
People who perceived themselves as more active in the morning had slightly better heart health scores. This association was more pronounced in women than in men.
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“What “people of the night” often experience is… Circadian rhythm deviationThis means their body clocks may not match their natural day-night light cycles or their typical daily schedule,” study lead author Sheena Kianasi, Ph.D., a research fellow in the Department of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, said in a release.
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“Night owls may be more likely to engage in behaviors that can affect cardiovascular health, including: Decrease in diet qualitysmoking, poor or irregular sleep. ”
Sarwar, who was not involved in the study, noted that lifestyle plays an important role in these findings.
“Cardiovascular disease has multiple causes,” a Maryland-based cardiologist told FOX News Digital. “Sleep is just one variable, and the importance of quality, restorative sleep should not be underestimated.”
The results of this study may help doctors make lifestyle and lifestyle adjustments. medical intervention Researchers noted that it can help prevent cardiovascular events.
The study has several limitations, primarily that it does not prove that staying up late causes heart disease, only that a link is established.
The study also relied on people reporting their own schedules, habits, and health conditions, which could be biased.
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Finally, the people included in the UK Biobank are: mostly white The researchers noted that they tended to be in better health than the general population, meaning the results may not be broadly generalizable.
Professor Sarwar added: “High quality sleep is important, but further research is needed to show exactly how sleep alone affects cardiovascular health.”
