Sound sleep habits and healthy lifestyle reduces risk of fatal heart attack by nearly eighty percent

In an amazing finding, the study team found that the effect of sufficient sleep  on heart-related deaths could be as strong as not smoking. Lead study author,  Dr. Monique Verschuren noted “It is always important to confirm results…  but the evidence is certainly growing that sleep should be added to our list of  CVD risk factors.” Lack of quality sleep  has been linked to obesity, high blood pressure and other factors directly  associated with cardiovascular risk.

In a large study consisting of 6,672  men and 7,967 women, aged from 20 to 65 years who were free of CVD, the team  found that the combination of the four traditional lifestyle factors was linked  to a 57 percent lower risk of  both fatal and non-fatal CVD, and a 67 percent lower risk of fatal events. When  the researchers added sufficient sleep (defined as seven continuous hours, but  less than nine hours each night) as a factor, the heart benefit increased  further: the risk of composite CVD was 65 percent lower and the risk of fatal  events was 83 percent lower.

In an effort to explain the results, the  scientists point to prior studies showing that short sleep duration is  associated with a higher incidence of overweight, obesity and hypertension  leading to higher levels of blood pressure, total cholesterol and triglycerides,  consistent with increased cardiovascular disease risk. Combining a quality  night’s sleep of more than seven hours with the other identified lifestyle  factors (diet, exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption) is a recipe for  lowering the risk of death from a heart attack by more than eighty percent,  clearly worth the small amount of extra effort.

Learn more:  http://www.naturalnews.com/041301_sleep_habits_healthy_lifestyle_heart_attack.html#ixzz2fGszjbVn