Less sleep raises stroke risk among middle–aged

Regularly getting less than six hours sleep a night raises the risk of stroke in middle age, research has shown. Scientists in the US studied 5,666 people aged 45 and older who had no history of stroke and were of normal weight. Over a three year period they found that those who habitually slept for less than six hours were significantly more likely to suffer a stroke. Having too little sleep had a greater effect than other stroke risk factors. The same pattern was not seen in overweight and obese individuals. Lead researcher Dr Megan Ruiter, from the University of Alabama, said: “In employed middle–aged to older adults, relatively free of major risk factors for stroke such as obesity and sleep–disordered breathing, short sleep duration may exact its own negative influence on stroke development.” We speculate that short sleep duration is a precursor to other traditional stroke risk factors, and once these traditional stroke risk factors are present, then perhaps they become stronger risk factors than sleep duration alone.” She presented the findings at the Sleep 2012 meeting taking place in Boston.