Everyone knows that good, restful sleep is an important part of living a healthy lifestyle. If we are consistently getting less than 7 hours of sleep it can can eventually lead to health consequences that affect our entire body. These effects include thinking, concentration and memory, immune system strength, high blood pressure and increased risk of diabetes and heart disease. But what about when you get your sleep? Does that make any difference?
A 2021 study of over 88,000 adults suggests that it does.
Researchers followed study participants for almost 6 years and found that those regularly going to bed after midnight had a 25% higher risk of heart attack, heart failure or stroke than those who crept between the sheets earlier. Going to sleep between 10:00 and 11:00 pm is associated with a lower risk of developing heart disease compared to earlier or later bedtimes.
Note that this sort of study does not prove that later bedtimes cause heart problems. But those who were up later had more heart related problems such as high blood pressure, obesity and pre-diabetes. Researchers adjusted for age, gender, sleep duration, sleep irregularity (defined as varied times of going to sleep and waking up), self-reported chronotype (early bird or night owl), smoking status, body mass index, diabetes, blood pressure, blood cholesterol and socioeconomic status.
I would not lose any sleep (sorry...) over going to bed at 11pm instead of 10pm. But do make sure you are getting enough.
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