Study finds this common condition may increase risk of stroke

In recent years, the crucial role sleep plays on our mental and physical health has been underscored by research. It’s hard to deny that quality rest can have a positive effect on your well-being.

This is especially true when it comes to adequate sleep and our cardiovascular health: a recent study published study in the journal Neurology found that there may be a correlation between chronic sleep loss and strokes. The researchers looked at data from 31,126 people over the course of 18 years and found that those with symptoms of insomnia were at higher risk for the health problem.

The study showed that the more symptoms of insomnia a person had, the greater their risk. Specifically, those who reported five to eight symptoms of insomnia were 51% more likely to have a stroke compared to people without signs of insomnia. according to Medical News Today.

Participants self-reported their symptoms, including waking up too early, sleeping unrefreshed, and having difficulty staying asleep and falling asleep. The research volunteers had no history of stroke at the start of the study.

“There is already a lot of data showing the relationship between sleep and stroke risk: not getting enough sleep and, in fact, getting too much sleep. Both can increase your risk of future cardiovascular events and stroke.” Dr Hardik Amina stroke specialist at Yale Medicine in Connecticut who is not affiliated with the study, told HuffPost.

Sleep deprivation and insomnia are linked to an increased risk of stroke risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, Amin added.

“People who have insomnia will have disrupted circadian rhythms that can lead to higher blood pressure at night while they sleep. Normally, someone who has normal, healthy sleep, their blood pressure should go down while they sleep,” she said, adding that the opposite is true for people who don’t get a good night’s sleep.

“People whose blood pressure doesn’t go down at night…those patients that we know are at higher risk of cardiovascular events,” Amin said.

While there is a good level of understanding of the link between heart health and sleep, not all the details are fully known, making studies like this illuminating for medical experts. Here’s what you should know from the research and how best to protect yourself:

Perhaps most surprisingly, stroke cases did not correlate with older people in the study.

“One of the most interesting findings they found was that the association between insomnia and stroke risk was actually stronger in their group of patients younger than 50, as opposed to patients older than 50,” Amin said. .

This study helps improve understanding of stroke in younger people, Amin added.

“Younger patients traditionally shouldn’t have strokes, and they tend to have strokes for less conventional reasons, like clotting conditions or maybe trauma, things like that,” Amin said. “But this study really helps expand our understanding that maybe there are things lurking below the surface that we don’t always discuss in younger patients that may be going on as well.”

Besides, Dr. Marta Robinson, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, pointed out that older people have more traditional stroke risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, and old age is a factor in risk in itself. All this could mean it was easier identify insomnia as a stroke risk factor in participants younger than 50, Robinson said.

But Amin stressed that it’s also important to understand that there isn’t necessarily a direct line between insomnia and stroke. Correlation does not equal causation. Instead, insomnia in younger patients may also imply that other health problems are occurring, either by themselves or potentially due to the insomnia. These health risks can put someone at a higher risk of stroke.

“So what this study found was that when you look at patients who have insomnia, they (also) tend to have higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, depression, obesity and heart disease. And then those patients are at higher risk of stroke,” Amin said. “It’s kind of a step-by-step thing that happens. … Whether insomnia itself directly increases the risk of stroke in an otherwise healthy patient, I think that’s a different question, and I don’t think there’s evidence for that yet.”

When it comes to your health, you’re probably more concerned about your physical health, such as back pain, joint problems, or skin rashes, than your sleep hygiene. But this study shows that you should In fact consider your sleep health too.

If you have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or getting enough sleep each night, you should talk to your doctor.

“I think what this study should really tell (people) is don’t be ashamed to discuss sleep problems with your doctor,” Amin said. “In my experience, patients are very hesitant to mention sleep-related problems.”

He noted that people often write off their sleep problems and let other health concerns top the list.

“It’s an issue that is often overlooked, but the treatment of sleep disorders can have a dramatic impact not only on a patient’s daily function in terms of their energy, their cognitive function, their mood, but obviously, as this study also shows, it could have a dramatic impact on your future overall health and also on your risk of stroke,” Amin said.

Beyond concerns about sleep, Robinson said it’s important to be in touch with a primary care doctor, who can follow your health history and assess risk factors for stroke, such as high cholesterol and diabetes.

And if you have any symptoms of stroke, you should get immediate help. According to Robinson, signs of stroke They include numbness and tingling on one side of the body, weakness on one side of the body, slurred speech, trouble seeing, balance problems, or facial drooping. This means that you should immediately call 911.

“If someone gets to the hospital too quickly, there are more options to reverse it,” Robinson said.