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Can't sleep? You might want to now. According to a new study conducted at the University of Chicago Medical Center, just one extra hour of sleep per night may lead to a healthier heart. The study found that more sleep appears to decrease the threat of coronary artery calcification - an early risk factor of cardiovascular disease.

"Although there are constant temptations to sleep less, there is a growing body of evidence that short sleep may have subtle health consequences," says study director Diane Lauderdale, PhD, associate professor of health studies at the University of Chicago Medical Center. "Although this single study does not prove that short sleep leads to coronary artery disease, it is safe to recommend at least six hours of sleep a night."
In the study, 12 percent of volunteers developed coronary artery calcification over five years. Calcified arteries were found in 27 percent of those who slept less than five hours a night, but the statistic dropped to 11 percent for those who slept five to seven hours a night, and continued to fall with more than seven hours. The benefits of sleep were particularly higher for women. While previous studies have correlated decreased sleep with calcification risk factors, this study cites that "after adjusting for age, sex, race, education, smoking, and apnea risk, longer measured sleep duration was associated with reduced calcification incidence."

Possible explanations for the connection between sleep and calcification included a general decrease in the 24-hour average blood pressure of a person, as well as stress or a stress hormone like Cortisol, which has been tied to decreased sleep and increased calcification. The research centered around 495 participants in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, which began in 1985 and was designed to assess the long-term impact of various factors that may lead to coronary artery disease.
(c) CTW Features