According to research published in the ESC journal European Heart Journal - Open, sleeping less than five hours per night increases the risk of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) by 74% compared to sleeping seven to eight hours.

More than 650,000 people participated in the survey, which had two phases. Initially, the researchers examined the relationships between napping during the day and the risk of PAD. The second section examined the causality of the connections by doing naturally randomized controlled trials (also known as Mendelian randomization) using genetic data.

Regarding extended sleep, an observational investigation of 53,416 adults found that those who slept for eight hours or more each night had a 24% higher risk of PAD than those who slept for seven to eight hours (HR 1.24; 95 percent CI 1.08-1.43). Analyses of two bigger populations, consisting of 156,582 and 452,028 people, corroborated this conclusion. However, long periods of sleep and PAD did not appear to be causally related. Similar findings were found among daytime nappers, who had a 32% higher risk of PAD than those who did not nap.

More studies are needed to remove the bidirectional relationship between short sleep and PAD. Becoming more active and making other lifestyle adjustments that promote better sleep may reduce the risk of getting PAD. Optimizing pain management may help patients with PAD get a decent night′s sleep.

 (Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/health/shortterm-sleep-deprivation-doubles-risk-of-blocked-leg-arteries-research-101678959322358.html)