As I finished building a drum-kit at 2 AM this Christmas morning (and I am back up, at 7 AM, starting coffee, etc.), I found this New York Times science piece very interesting -- more evidence that a good chunk of heart disease risk may be mitigated by life-style changes -- changes like eating a more healthy diet, like steady, vigorous exercise -- and now, like getting more sleep. . . . Do go read it all, here:
. . . .495 participants filled out sleep questionnaires and kept a log of their hours in bed. At night they also wore motion-sensing devices around their wrists that estimate the number of hours of actual sleep. At the beginning, none of the participants, who were ages 35 to 47, had evidence of coronary artery calcification.Five years later, 27 percent of those who were sleeping less than five hours a night on average had developed coronary artery calcification for the first time, while only 6 percent of those who were sleeping seven hours or more had developed it. Among those who were sleeping between five and seven hours a night, 11 percent had developed coronary artery calcification, the study found.
After accounting for various other causes, the researchers concluded that one hour more of sleep per night was associated with a 33 percent decrease in the odds of calcification, comparable to the heart benefit gained by lowering one’s systolic blood pressure by 17 millimeters of mercury. . . .
Senior author Diane S. Lauderdale cautioned that the new report does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between a lack of sleep and heart disease. . . .
That settles it. I am going back to bed -- right now. Christmas can wait "until this platoon is better rested. . . ."
No comments:
Post a Comment