Hyderabad: Too little or too much sleep increases the risk of heart attack as it causes a disruption in the glucose metabolism, blood pressure and inflammation in the body. These factors, over a period of time, make the heart age faster than the chronological age.Excess heart age is being taken as a marker to evaluate the risk of heart attack along with sleep as one of the contributory factors.
Researchers have evaluated prolonged periods of insufficient sleep having negative effects on multiple body systems including the cardiovascular system.
Dr Srinivas Kishore, senior ENT surgeon and sleep specialist, said, “Data from sleep apnea patients, who were evaluated in sleep labs, has shown that the cardiac rhythm is affected due to the stress caused by breaks in the sleep. Whether or not this helps give an indication of the ageing of the heart has to be properly evaluated.”
In heart patients, it has been found that lack of sleep lowers the heart rate and blood pressure. Over a period of time, it increases the blood pressure during the day, increasing the incidence of cardiovascular problems.
The idea of heart age was first defined in the Framingham Heart Study in 2008 where it was found that there is a difference between a person’s chronological age and the biological age of the heart.
Senior cardiologist Dr Bharat Kumar said evaluation of the biological age cannot be taken as a benchmark for risk analysis as there are other factors which influence it. “There are people whose heart rate is absolutely normal and are still found to suffer from sudden stroke. Hence it can only be one of the markers and would requi-re a lot of work to understand it better,” he said.
The sleep cycle, obesity and heart problems are found to have been related in clinical evaluations which allows judgements to be made for apt treatments and lifestyle modifications.
