Research links going to bed between 10 pm and 11 pm to lower risk of heart disease

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There appears to be an ideal bedtime — between 10 pm and 11 pm — associated with better heart health, suggest researchers who looked at 88,000 volunteers.

The team behind the study, conducted by the UK Biobank, believes that synchronizing sleep to match our internal biological clock may explain the association found with a reduced risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical database containing detailed genetic and health information on half a million people in the UK.

The body’s natural 24-hour rhythm is important for well-being and alertness. It can also affect factors such as blood pressure.

‘Heart healthy in the long run’

To arrive at these findings, the researchers collected data on volunteers’ sleep and awake times over seven days with a device similar to a wristwatch.

And they tracked what happened to the participants in terms of heart and circulatory health for an average of six years.

Just over 3,000 adults developed cardiovascular disease.

Many of these cases occurred in people who went to bed later or earlier than “ideal” from 10 pm to 11 pm.

This association remained after adjusting for sleep duration and irregularity.

The researchers tried to control for other factors known to affect a person’s heart risk, such as age, weight and cholesterol levels, but emphasize that their study cannot prove cause and effect. Study author David Plans of the University of Exeter in England said: “While we cannot conclude the causality of our study, the results suggest that the biological clock can be affected depending on what time we go to sleep, with adverse consequences for cardiovascular health”.

“The riskiest time is after midnight, potentially because it can reduce the likelihood of seeing morning light, which resets the biological clock.”

Regina Giblin, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “This large study indicates that sleeping between 10 pm and 11 pm may be the ideal time for most people to keep their hearts healthy in the long run.”

“However, it’s important to remember that research only shows an association and does not prove cause and effect. More research is needed on sleep time and duration as a risk factor for heart and circulatory disease.”

Getting enough sleep is important to our overall well-being as well as our heart and circulatory health, and most adults should sleep for seven to nine hours a night, she said.

“But sleep isn’t the only factor that can affect heart health. It’s also important to watch your lifestyle, such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels, maintain a healthy weight, and exercise regularly, reducing your intake of salt and alcohol. , and a balanced diet can also help keep your heart healthy.”

The study was published in the scientific journal European Heart Journal.

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