Going to sleep at a different time every night can increase your risk of these deadly health issues: study

We all know that routinely hitting the hay at odd hours isn’t great for your sleep health — but a new study suggests it could be deadly. New research indicates that having an irregular sleep routine can increase the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart disease or stroke, even if you’re getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Previous studies have mostly focused on the health outcomes of sleep duration as opposed to the impact of having a stable sleep-wake cycle, so these findings are significant. “Our results suggest that sleep regularity may be more relevant than sufficient sleep duration in modulating MACE [major adverse cardiovascular event] risk,” the study’s research team said. For the study, 72,269 people aged 40 to 79 wore an activity tracker for one week to assess their sleep patterns.None of the participants had a history of heart disease or stroke. The data was then collected to calculate each participant’s Sleep Regularity Index score.

Those with a score higher than 87 were deemed to have a regular sleep pattern, and those with scores under 72 were determined to have an irregular sleep pattern.Those who were in between categorized as “moderately regular.” The research team then gathered data on incidents of stroke, heart failure, and heart attacks over the next eight years and found that irregular sleepers were 26% more likely to experience a major cardiovascular event than those who went to bed at approximately the same time every night. Participants whose sleep schedule was moderately regular were 8% more likely to have this type of life-threatening event.  Subscribe to our weekly Post Care newsletter! Please provide a valid email address.

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The study also showed that those with a regular sleep schedule were more likely to achieve th...