People With This Bad Sleep Habit Are More Likely To Develop Heart Disease

"Get a full eight hours of sleep!" is something most of us have heard a thousand times. But in recent years, research has emerged suggesting that maintaining a consistent bedtime and wake time is even more important than clocking a certain number of hours.

And now, this study in the Journal of the American Heart Association linking irregular sleeping patterns to cardiovascular disease gives us another reason to focus on creating this consistency. 

Irregular sleeping patterns and heart health

The study collected data from over 2,000 U.S. adults aged 45 to 84 years old. For seven days, participants wore a device that collected data about their sleep patterns and underwent a handful of cardiovascular assessments.

The researchers looked at a range of factors, including coronary artery calcium (which helps measure how much plaque buildup there is in your arteries), carotid intima-media thickness (which diagnoses the extent of the buildup), and the ankle-brachial index (a test that compares the blood pressure in the upper and lower limbs). 

The researchers cross-examined both sets of data and found that sleep irregularity—particularly when it comes to sleep duration, or how many hours of sleep you get a night—was associated with several risk factors for arteriosclerosis, a type of disease characterized by a narrowing of the arteries.

More specifically, the results showed that variations in sleep duration of more than two hours a night within the same week were more likely to have higher levels of coronary artery calcium and abnormal ankle-brachial indexes. 

Is consistency more important than duration? 

This study suggests that when it comes to sleep, maintaining a consistent bedtime and wake time is just as important as how many hours of sleep you get overall. And this isn't the first time irregular sleep habits have been connected to poor health outcomes.

A 2018 study1 showed that more irregular sleep patterns were linked to an increased risk of obesity, high blood pressure, blood sugar issues, and heart attacks. The same study showed that irregular sleepers are more likely to report chronically high stress levels and depression.

How to craft a consistent nighttime routine

This study suggests that to promote optimal health, we shouldn't deviate our bedtime by more than two hours within a week. This gives us some wiggle room, but not much. It means that if we go to bed at 10 p.m. on the weekdays, we shouldn't stay out past midnight on the weekend, or go to bed before 8 p.m. if we're particularly tired one evening. 

Maintaining consistent sleep patterns takes a little intention and planning, and nobody will ever be perfect. That said, crafting a solid nighttime routine is a great way to get in the habit of going to bed at the same time each night and help ourselves wind down at the end of a long day. Here are some ideas to start with: 

The takeaway

The study shows that irregular sleep patterns are associated with atherosclerosis. To get the best sleep possible and promote your health, focus on creating consistency with your sleep, as well as spending enough hours in bed every night.