Khaberni - A study conducted by researchers from the University of Oulu in Finland showed that the duration of rest, along with regular sleep schedules, could play a major role in preventing myocardial infarction and strokes.
The scientific journal BMC Cardiovascular Disorders indicates that the scientists, in the course of the experiment, monitored the sleep quality of 3,231 individuals over a week, with an average age of 46 years. To ensure accuracy, they used wearable tracking devices instead of self-reporting logs. After gathering the data, they followed up on the participants' health for another decade.
The results showed that individuals suffering from chronic sleep deprivation (less than eight hours) had a doubled risk of serious heart diseases due to irregular sleep schedules compared to those who maintained a regular sleep schedule.
Interestingly, the study results showed that adhering to a fixed bedtime is more important than sticking to a regular waking time, as the difference in participants' behavior was clear. Individuals who adhered to a fixed bedtime deviated by an average of 33 minutes over a week, while those with irregular sleep schedules deviated by 108 minutes.
Furthermore, it was found that people who were used to compensating for late sleep by sleeping in late on weekends did not reduce the damage caused by the disruption of biological rhythms.
According to researchers, it is all about biological rhythms. They link these variations to the disturbance of the body's natural biological clock. When a person goes to sleep at 11:00 PM on weekdays and at 2:00 AM on weekends, their internal systems are subjected to a stress similar to that of long-haul flights (time zone change), leading to disturbances in nocturnal recovery processes and blood pressure regulation, which places additional long-term stress on the heart and blood vessels.
It is worth noting that individuals who were accustomed to sleeping 8 hours or more showed no noticeable disruption in their sleep schedule. This implies that sufficient sleep partially mitigates the negative effects of varying sleep times.
Researchers emphasize that based on global statistics indicating that cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death, even a simple habit like sleeping at a specified time regularly can be an effective preventive measure. Thus, experts recommend aiming for eight hours of sleep and reducing the gap between sleep times during weekdays and weekends.
