Lack of Sleep is not only bad for your mental state, it is also bad for your heart. This is what a new study claims, emphasizing that the quality of sleep an adult individual gets has an effect on the risk of developing a heart disease.
The research, published at the journal titled Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, revealed that too much sleep and the lack thereof are linked with the buildup of calcium in the coronary arteries that may lead to higher coronary artery calcification (CAC) and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (PWV), thereby increasing the risk of developing a Cardiovascular diseases.
According to the study, participants who only slept five hours or less a day have 50 percent more calcium in their coronary artery as compared to those who sleep seven hours a day. Meanwhile, those who overslept, sleeping nine hours or more, have 70 percent more coronary artery calcium.
The study also discovered that poor quality of sleep leads to a 20 percent increase in the buildup of calcium plaque in the said arteries.
As mentioned by Texas Heart, Coronary Arteries are the one that supplies blood in an individual's heart. Meanwhile, WebMD cited that blockage in the coronary arteries can cause heart attack as well as other types of heart disease.
In order to reach this conclusion, the researchers assessed 47,309 adult participants who agreed to have the aspects of their sleeping evaluated. Using a sleep questionnaire, the researchers were able to obtain data regarding the sleep duration and quality of each participant.
Additionally, the participants also underwent a health examination in order to evaluate the current measure of their coronary artery calcium as well as arterial stiffness.
"Adults with poor sleep quality have stiffer arteries than those who sleep 7 hours a day or had good sleep quality. Overall, we saw the lowest levels of vascular disease in adults sleeping 7 hours a day and reporting good sleep quality," shared co-lead author Dr. Yoosoo Chang, associate professor at Kangbuk Samsun Hospital, via Medical News Today (MNT).
According to MNT, even though the researchers of the study acknowledged that the study has its own limitations given that relies solely on individual self-reporting, they believe that the research gives a brighter light to the effects of sleep deficiency to one's heart health.
Coronary Artery Disease popularly known as Coronary Heart disease is the top killer in America. As mentioned by Center for Disease Control and Prevention, it is the "most common type of heart disease, killing over 370,000 people annually."
"For doctors, it might be necessary to assess patients' sleep quality when they evaluate the cardiovascular risk and the health status of men and women," co-lead author Dr. Chan-Won Kim, clinical associate professor at Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, told MNT.