A new study published in the journal Biomarker Research reveals that sleep deprivation activates molecular pathways that may increase the risk of heart disease. This offers new insight into the biological links between poor sleep and cardiovascular health.
Sleep deprivation is an escalating public health issue, already associated with a higher risk of heart attacks, strokes, and atrial fibrillation. This study, conducted by researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden, aimed to understand how even short-term sleep loss impacts cardiovascular risk on a molecular level.
The study involved 16 healthy, normal-weight men with stable sleep habits. All participants adhered to a strictly controlled diet and exercise routine while staying at a sleep research facility.
The experiment consisted of two sessions: in one, participants enjoyed three consecutive nights of normal sleep, while in the other, they were restricted to just four hours of sleep per night. Blood samples were collected in the morning and evening, followed by a 30-minute high-intensity workout each session.
Researchers analyzed levels of around 90 blood proteins. They discovered that most inflammation-related proteins increased significantly during sleep deprivation. Many of these proteins are known markers of elevated risk for conditions like heart failure and coronary artery disease.
While previous large-scale studies on sleep deprivation have primarily focused on older adults, who are already at greater cardiovascular risk due to age, this study found alarming changes even in young, healthy individuals after just a few nights of insufficient sleep.
The research also showed that sleep deprivation alters the body’s response to exercise, though key proteins linked to exercise’s benefits still increase regardless of participants’ sleep. Previous work by the same team suggested that exercising while sleep-deprived could stress heart muscle cells, further complicating the balance between exercise and recovery.
This study underscores that exercise cannot fully compensate for lost sleep, as rest plays a crucial and irreplaceable role in cardiovascular health.
The researchers call for further studies to examine the effects of sleep deprivation on women, older adults, individuals with heart disease, and people with non-traditional sleep patterns, to build a more comprehensive understanding of how sleep impacts heart health across different populations.
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