Sleeplessness May Prompt Heart Attack

Insomnia is estimated to affect as many as one-third of adults, compromising the ability to fall asleep and/or stay asleep.  Lars E. Laugsand, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), and colleagues completed a population-based study of 52 610 Norwegian men and women, finding that people who struggled to fall or stay asleep almost every night were 30% to 45% more likely to have an acute myocardial infarction. The more insomnia symptoms reported, the higher the risk.  Citing that common risk factors between sleep disorders and heart disease include an increased sympathetic activation and high blood pressure, leading to the potential for “insomnia [to associate] with a moderately increased risk for [acute myocardial infarction],” the team urges at-risk individuals to adopt good sleep hygiene.