Daylight Saving Time is now over, which means you probably enjoyed an extra hour of sleep over the weekend. Unfortunately, even a welcome disruption of your sleep cycle may be bad for your heart, at least according to preliminary research to be presented later this week at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.
A team of medical researchers led by Nguyen Minh Tuan Viet of Harvard Medical school analyzed health data from over 10,300 adults enrolled in the National Institutes of Health’s “All of Us” Research Program. As part of that program, these subjects were outfitted with Fitbits that recorded their sleep activity for six months, including when they went to bed and woke up, how much of their slumber was spent in light versus deep sleep, and the number of sleep cycles they experienced during the night. Altogether, the dataset included more than one million hours of sleep.
Read more: “How the Heat is Messing with Your Sleep”
The team found that it was changes to the sleep schedule that showed the biggest impacts on heart health. Those who experienced shifts in their sleep schedules had a roughly 20 percent higher risk of serious heart events, including heart attack, stroke, and heart failure. Every 29-minute change in how much sleep participants got—in either direction—was associated with a 24-percent increase in risk for these adverse outcomes. (For those keeping score, that’s roughly three hits of the snooze button.)
It’s a somewhat surprising finding. After all, we’re used to headlines linking too little sleep to poorer health. This investigation suggests any change in our schedules could be detrimental to our hearts. And it’s particularly bad news for those who like to catch a few extra Z’s on the weekends. “Sleep irregularity is often due to weekends,” Viet explained in a statement. “We get to sleep a little bit later on a Friday night; or people have shift work. This may not be good for your heart health.”
So what can we do?
The answer, per the researchers, is to stick to a stricter sleep schedule. Or as Viet put it, “While we often focus on getting a full eight hours of sleep every night, having a regular sleep schedule—consistent bedtimes, wake times, and sleep duration from night to night is a practical, actionable step anyone can take that may help protect their heart and blood vessels.” 
Enjoying Nautilus? Subscribe to our free newsletter.
Lead Image: hmorena / Shutterstock
