Cardiovascular health: Insomnia linked to greater risk of heart attack
- As research progresses, experts are finding more and more reasons for people to prioritize sleep. One area of interest is how the sleep disorder insomnia increases the risk for other health problems.
- This particular systematic review and meta-analysis looked at the association between insomnia and the incidence of heart attack, also called myocardial infarction (MI). It included controlled observational studies about heart attacks in people eighteen or older.
- Researchers included nine studies in their analysis and research, including 153,881 people with insomnia and 1,030,375 people who did not have insomnia. Studies came from six different countries, allowing for diversity in data collection.
- The results of the study found that people with insomnia were at a significantly higher risk for heart attack than people who did not have insomnia. People with insomnia were 69% more likely to experience a heart attack.
- In addition, getting five or fewer hours of sleep at night was associated with a much higher risk for heart attack than getting between seven and eight hours of sleep. People who got five or fewer hours of sleep each night were 56% more likely to experience a heart attack than those who got between seven and eight hours of sleep at night.