According to a new study, your bedtime might matter as much as how long you sleep. Especially if you’re already running on less than a full night’s rest.
Researchers from the University of Oulu, who previously found a way to observe the natural cleaning processes our brains undergo as we sleep, tracked the sleep habits of 3,231 adults using wearable devices. They focused on the duration and consistency of our nightly shut-eye. The team found that people with irregular bedtimes had around double the risk of major cardiovascular events like attacks and strokes over the following decade compared to those who went to bed at consistent times. They published their findings in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders.
In a press release published on the University’s website, Lead researcher Laura Nauha said that the likely bad guy here is our circadian rhythms. The body runs on a 24-hour internal clock. When you’re constantly shifting your bedtime, you’re basically resetting that clock every night in a way that annoys your heart, which depends on a predictable block of downtime to recuperate after a long day of keeping you alive. When you remove that consistency, the system starts to strain.
This Everyday Bedtime Habit Could Be Wrecking Your Heart
Wake-up times didn’t show the same impact. What matters most is bedtime. In the study, irregular sleepers had bedtime swings averaging nearly 2 hours over a week, compared to about half an hour for consistent sleepers.
Overall, the increased risk was primarily seen in people who slept less than eight hours a night. Anyone who managed a full night’s sleep appears to have some more protection, even if their schedules weren’t all that great. In other words, quantity of sleep can make up some of the difference and protect against potentially fatal heart ailments in the future, but not forever.
Obviously, as with any study, there were some limitations. The study doesn’t claim direct causation and fully acknowledges there are a wide variety of factors that also contribute to heart disease and stroke, along with a regular bedtime, like stress, work schedules, and underlying health issues. But the association is strong enough to be of significance, given that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death on the planet.
Out of more than 3,000 participants, 128 experienced serious cardiac events over 10 years—a relatively small number, but enough to help the researchers identify a pattern. For as much as we all worry about getting in those precious 8+ hours of sleep, we may be forgetting to supplement that with a little bit of bedtime consistency; otherwise, we’re just unconsciously making things slightly worse for ourselves in the long run.
The post This Common Bedtime Habit Is Horrible for Your Heart appeared first on VICE.
