Good sleep can add five years to your life

Poor sleeping habits can shave years off your life.

That’s the conclusion of researchers who shared findings at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session Together with the World Congress of Cardiology.

 The study concluded that people who suffer from insomnia are 69% more likely to have a heart attack than people who don’t have the sleep disorder. The researchers found that people who get five or fewer hours of sleep a night had the greatest risk of a heart attack. People with both diabetes and insomnia had a twofold likelihood of having a heart attack. 

“Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder, but in many ways it’s no longer just an illness, it’s more of a life choice. We just don’t prioritize sleep as much as we should,” said Yomna E. Dean, a medical student at Alexandria University in Alexandria, Egypt, and author of the study. “Our study showed that people with insomnia are more likely to have a heart attack regardless of age, and heart attacks occurred more often in women with insomnia.”

Up to 70 million U.S. adults have a sleep disorder, according to the American Sleep Association. Those disorders frequently are linked to problems such as depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Insomnia is becoming more common, affecting up to 30% of American adults. Previous studies have linked insomnia to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, but this analysis is the largest to date, based on a review of data for more than 1.18 million adults.

The average age was 52 years and 13% (153,881) had insomnia. Most patients (96%) did not have a prior history of heart attack. Heart attacks occurred in 2,406 of those who had insomnia and 12,398 of those in the non-insomnia group.

The link between insomnia and heart attack was significant across all groups of patients, including younger and older age (<65 and >65), male and female sex, and common comorbidities (diabetes, high blood pressure or cholesterol). 

An article on the study in Science Daily reports that researchers assessed five different factors of quality sleep. Men who experienced all five factors of quality sleep lived 4.7 years longer than those who experienced none or one of the factors.  For women, life expectancy was 2.4 years greater.

“We need to do a better job of educating people about how dangerous [lack of good sleep] can be,” Dean said. “Not surprisingly, people with insomnia who also had high blood pressure, cholesterol or diabetes had an even higher risk of having a heart attack than those who didn’t.”

Based on the findings, Dean said people should prioritize sleep so they get seven to eight hours of quality sleep a night.

“Practice good sleep hygiene; the room should be dark, quiet and on the cooler side, and put away devices,” she said. “Do something that is calming to wind down, and if you have tried all these things and still can’t sleep or are sleeping less than five hours, talk with your doctor.”