A study published by the American Heart Association revealed that sleeping 7 hours or more but less than 9 hours nightly was considered "ideal" for good cardiovascular health.

The American Heart Associations Lifes Simple 7 (LS7) has updated its checklist, now known as Lifes Crucial 8, with the inclusion of sleep length is now being considered "an essential component for good heart and brain health."

In the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) sleep study, participants data were examined using nighttime polysomnography, seven-day wrist actigraphy, validated questionnaires, and results.

Results from the study showed that among 1920 participants, there were 93 incident cases and 95 recurrent CVD episodes. A decrease of 80% was seen in the risks of prevalent CVD in those with the highest LS7 score compared to those with the lowest tertiles. The same pattern was seen among participants with CVH scores between1 to 4. The likelihood of developing CVD was not substantially correlated with the LS7 score. The incident CVD risk was 43% and 47% lower, respectively, for those in the highest versus lowest tertile of CVH scores 1 and 4.

Overall, 10% of participants had sleep efficiency lower than 85%, 14% had excessive daytime drowsiness, 36% had strong insomnia symptoms, and 47% had moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Along with having shorter average LS7 scores, short-duration sleepers also had increased diabetes, hypertension, and obesity rates.

Thus to avoid heart disease, clinicians should inquire about their patients sleeping health habits and emphasize the necessity of prioritizing sleep.

(Source: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/982843#vp_1)