Sleep and Heart Disease

liverock · � #1 � 12-30-2008, 08:31 AM

Lack of Sleep Linked to Heart Problems - TIME

There have been a few studies done recently on the role of sleep, both quantity and quality, in heart disease, strokes and blood pressure.
This one appears to be the most definitive.

Quote:

Researchers at the University of Chicago report in the Journal of the American Medical Association that too little sleep can promote calcium buildup in the heart arteries, leading to the plaques that can then break apart and cause heart attacks and strokes.

The University of Chicago team documented for the first time exactly how much of a risk shortened shut-eye can be � one hour less on average each night can increase coronary calcium by 16%. Among a group of 495 men and women aged 35 to 47, 27% of those getting less than five hours of sleep each night showed plaque in their heart vessels, while 11% of those sleeping the recommended five to seven hours did, and only 6% of subjects sleeping more than seven hours each night showed such atherosclerosis.

"We were surprised by the findings," says Diane Lauderdale, a professor of health studies at the University of Chicago and lead author of the study. "We really were not expecting to find an association at all, and certainly not one that was this strong."

Lauderdale and her team had reason to be skeptical. While the connection between sleep and heart disease is of growing interest to researchers, earlier studies had been inconclusive, and plagued by biases, including the fact that most of the trials relied on people's self-reported accounts of their sleeping habits. The scientists knew that teasing apart the myriad processes that contribute to sleep, and then drawing scientifically sound connections between them and the host of things that can trigger heart disease, would be difficult at best.

So the Chicago team isolated the most common confounding variables that could explain both poor sleep and heart problems, such as smoking, alcohol, and other medical conditions, and also found a way to record, as accurately as possible, the amount of sleep that the subjects got each night. Each volunteer wore a wrist monitor that measured and recorded activity at 30 second intervals; when the monitor was quiet, the subject was asleep.

While Lauderdale acknowledges that her results are far from the last word on sleep and heart disease, the study does suggest that doctors and patients should consider sleep in addition to the more familiar hazards for the heart such as high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes. In Lauderdale's analysis, one additional hour of sleep was equivalent to lowering systolic blood pressure by 16.5mm Hg.

"We have enough evidence from this study and others to show that it is important to include sleep in any discussion of heart disease," says Dr. Tracy Stevens, spokesperson for the American Heart Association and a cardiologist at Saint Luke's Mid-America Heart Institute. "We talk about the traditional risk factors, and now the other important thing we need to include is sleep." (See pictures of how animals sleep.)

Exactly how a lack of sleep is feeding plaque in the heart arteries isn't yet clear, but one explanation may involve inflammation. Too little sleep can raise cortisol levels, which fuels inflammation that can destabilize plaques. Once these deposits rupture, they can block vessels in the heart or brain, causing a heart attack or stroke. While the Chicago team did not track levels of cortisol to test this theory, future studies might.

A simpler explanation might involve blood pressure. In general, blood pressure dips during sleep, and over a 24 hour period, people sleeping less will have shorter periods of lower blood pressure, thus increasing their tendency to dislodge any unstable plaques.

Whatever the reason might be, the results of this study make it clear that sleep isn't just for dreamers. Getting enough sleep might just save your heart.

Xania · � #2 � 12-30-2008, 10:59 AM

I have noticed over the years, that disturbed sleep is one of the SYMPTOMS of heart/brain circulatory disorders. It should be regarded as an early warning system that something is wrong.

"too little sleep can promote calcium buildup in the heart arteries" - this is putting the cart before the horse!
Vascular insufficiency causes sleep disturbances.

Arrowwind09 · � #3 � 12-31-2008, 01:53 AM

They have been advertising this lately and it might be good!
https://www.buyalteril.com/?cid=527868

although I prefer homeopathy for sleepless nights this is likely easier to get than the products I prefer.

Many natuapathic docs are recommending melatonin up to 20 mg for people over 40 or so.

and Xania, I thought that waking up at 3am was a liver thing?

raychimes · � #4 � 01-09-2009, 06:45 PM

i want to do the colon cleansing thing. but i had open heart sugery a year ago, would there be a problem for me to do the cleansing.

Arrowwind09 · � #5 � 01-10-2009, 04:54 AM

I don't think that colon cleansing would be a problem for someone who has had heart surgery. What kind of surgery? What was the diagnosis, if you care to say?

raychimes · � #6 � 01-10-2009, 05:56 PM

i had quad druple by pass sugery.

Arrowwind09 · � #7 � 01-12-2009, 04:18 AM

WOW. Glad you are looking around for some other answers.
My brother in law had TWO of those kind of surgeries, about 10 years apart.
The last time the doc said he wouldn't do it again. Thats when he finally quite smoking!

My husband has some artery issues also, but not severe, as of yet. At the age about 57 his arteries looked like that of a 76 year old according to the carotid sonagram. He quit smoking, got better in his diet and the next test 2 years later showed that they at least had not gotten worse. (now he's smoking again - and trying to quit again

)

We added pomegranete juice to our daily program. You may want to take a look at that. https://www.natmedtalk.com/general-di...monograph.html

and you might want to look at this article, there is a series of them actually. heres part one. The Ultimate Solutions to Heart Disease, Stroke and Alzheimers, part 1

You might find the info on the whole thread of interest: Cardiovascular

I'm sure that colon cleansing would not be a problem.

liverock · � #8 � 01-13-2009, 02:17 AM

The Pomegranate Extract used in the studies mentioned by Arrowind had a concentrated extract equivelant to 24 pomegranates.(POM X).
The effect of pomegranates in the studies is rated by the amount of punicalagins per ounce,which is much more concentrated than the normal supermarket pomegranate juice drink.

LEF supply the equivelant to that used in the studies in supplement form.
Pomegranate Extract Capsules, 30 vegetarian capsules

Beyond-A-Century also do several Pomegranate products.
https://www.easycart.net/BeyondACentu..._P-Z.html#8194

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