Snoring a Top Predictor of Heart Attacks and Strokes

By Dr. David O. Volpi

I read a study recently that I immediately knew I had to make you aware of.

Researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit found that snoring is a bigger risk factor for heart disease, including stroke and heart attacks, than being overweight, having high cholesterol, and even smoking! Yes, you read that right—snoring is an even bigger risk factor for heart disease.

The study, which was submitted to The Laryngoscope journal, is the first of its kind to show a link between snoring and heart disease, similar to other risk factors, such as sleep apnea, obesity, smoking and high cholesterol are also linked to heart disease.

Snorers showed arterial damage

For the study, Dr. Robert Deeb, MD, and senior study author Karen Yaremchuk, MD, reviewed the data of 913 patients, all between the ages of 18 and 40, who had been evaluated by the Henry Ford sleep center between December 2006 and January 2012.

The researchers noticed that the carotid arteries—the arteries that supply oxygen-rich blood to the brain—had thickened among the snorers, indicating that arterial damage had occurred due to snoring.

The researchers hypothesized that the thickening of the artery walls could have been due to the trauma and inflammation caused by snoring. But previous research on sleep apnea and artery disease has found the opposite: arterial damage comes first, reducing the oxygen level in the blood, leading to interruptions in breathing. The thickening of the arteries may also be contributing to the snoring in the patients.

Even more interesting: The snorers’ arterial walls had thickened, even though none of the patients had been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). While OSA often develops from snoring and has been known as an indicator of cardiovascular disease, there’s been little evidence until now to prove that arterial damage can actually begin with snoring.

What these results mean

So what are the medical implications of the Henry Ford study? Let’s review coronary artery disease for a moment. Coronary artery disease (CAD), also known as atherosclerosis, occurs when waxy plaque builds up on the inner walls of the arteries.

Over time, the arterial walls thicken and stiffen, restricting blood flow to the heart and/or brain. It is commonly know that CAD is a precursor to conditions such as heart attack, stroke, and heart failure.

The results of the Henry Ford study—that the carotid arteries had thickened among the snorers, is important to pay attention to because it means that snoring, not just OSA, is a high risk factor for coronary artery disease, heart disease, and other related conditions.

Drs. Deeb and Yaremchuk’s research is groundbreaking because arterial blockage and other forms of heart disease are usually detected only after significant permanent damage has been done.

This new research should encourage snorers—and those who love them—to visit a doctor to discuss cardiovascular health and stroke prevention, and get properly diagnosed and treated.

The research is clear that doctors should add snoring to the list of coronary artery disease risk factors, along with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking and family history. Perhaps if patients and their doctors considered snoring a serious health threat and treated it accordingly, there would be a great reduction in heart disease.

Women with Sleep Apnea Show Higher Brain Damage, Anxiety than Men

An estimated 18 million Americans have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), including one in four women over 65, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

And several recent studies have linked OSA to health disorders specifically in women. Sleep apnea has been linked to dementia in older women,  and another observational study found that women with untreated severe OSA are 3.5 times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than women without OSA.

Here’s another reason for women to take sleep apnea seriously: A first-of-its-kind study out of the UCLA School of Nursing discovered that women with sleep apnea are more likely to suffer a higher degree of brain damage than men with sleep apnea.

What is obstructive sleep apnea? OSA is a disorder that occurs when a person's breathing is repeatedly interrupted during sleep, sometimes hundreds of times a night. During each obstruction, the oxygen level in the blood drops, which over time, causes myriad health problems. For people with sleep apnea, the combination of disturbed sleep and oxygen starvation may lead to hypertension, heart disease and mood and memory problems, among other disorders.

The new UCLA study

UCLA has been on the cutting edge of sleep apnea research. About 10 years ago, the same UCLA research team that conducted the new study was the first to show that men with OSA have damage to their brain cells.

For the latest multi-year study, entitled "Sex Differences in White Matter Alterations Accompanying Obstructive Sleep Apnea,” the researchers studied patients diagnosed with OSA at the UCLA Sleep Laboratory. They compared the nerve fibers in the patients' brains, known as “white matter,” to the nerve fibers of people without OSA or other sleep problems. The goal was to find the differences in brain damage, if any, between men and women with OSA.

Results of the study

The researchers found that women are actually more affected by sleep apnea than men. Additionally, women with OSA have more severe brain damage than men suffering from a similar condition. The women with sleep apnea also showed higher levels of depression and anxiety symptoms.

Specifically, the study found that women were impacted in the cingulum bundle and the anterior cingulate cortex areas in the front of the brain involved in decision-making and mood regulation.

Based on the results, chief investigator Paul Macey said, “Doctors should consider that OSA in women may be more problematic and therefore need earlier treatment in women than men.”

With the results of this study as a foundation, the next step is for the researchers to find out if treating sleep apnea can help the brain.

In a “chicken or egg” scenario, did the OSA cause the brain damage, or did the brain damage cause the OSA?  Or did the common conditions, such as depression, dementia or cardiovascular issues cause the brain damage, which in turn leads to sleep apnea?

The study and resulting questions are fascinating, and one thing is for sure: both men and women who are having trouble sleeping should get checked for obstructive sleep apnea and other sleep disorders.

Researchers estimate that up to 85 percent of people with severe sleep apnea have not been diagnosed yet.

Many times, sleep apnea can be misdiagnosed as chronic fatigue, insomnia, depression, or some other non-specific condition, so be specific about the symptoms you are experiencing.

Don't wait to get checked—it could save your life, or someone you love.

For more information, read the article, “Women with sleep apnea have higher degree of brain damage than men, UCLA study shows.”

Can more sleep help ease pain? Yes, says new study!

Chalk another one up for the benefits of sleep. Researchers at the Sleep Disorders and Research Center at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit have found that getting more sleep improves daytime alertness and reduces pain sensitivity in healthy adults.

The study was led by Timothy A. Roehrs, Ph.D. of the Sleep Disorders and Research Center at the Henry Ford Hospital and supported by the Fund for Henry Ford Health System. Roehrs and his colleagues studied 18 pain-free, but mildly sleepy volunteers.

For the study, the participants were randomly assigned to four nights of either their normal amount of sleep, or extending their sleep time to 10 hours in bed per night. Their daytime sleepiness was measured on days one and four using the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT), a tool that measures how quickly a person falls asleep. Their pain sensitivity was also measured using finger withdrawal latency pain testing to a radiant heat stimulus.

The first study to prove sleep reduces pain.

The results of the study were published in the Dec. 1 issue of the journal Sleep. It is the first research of its kind to prove that extended sleep in mildly sleep-deprived adults can significantly reduce their sensitivity to pain.

The results showed that the extended sleep group—those who slept more than normal—slept 1.8 hours more per night than the normal sleep group. It also showed that they experienced less daytime sleepiness. This increase in sleep time during the four nights correlated to increased daytime alertness, as well as less sensitivity to pain.

Regarding the pain test, the extended sleep group showed a greater tolerance for pain/reduced pain sensitivity. The length of time before participants removed their finger from a radiant heat source increased by 25 percent. The researchers noted that this increase in “finger withdrawal latency” is greater than the effect found in a previous study where participants used 60 milligrams of codeine.

In their report, the researchers stated that the results, combined with data from previous research, suggest that increased pain sensitivity in sleepy individuals is the result of their underlying sleepiness.

Timothy Roehrs, PhD, the study’s principal investigator and lead author said, “The results suggest the importance of adequate sleep in various chronic pain conditions or in preparation for elective surgical procedures. We were surprised by the magnitude of the reduction in pain sensitivity, when compared to the reduction produced by taking codeine.”
Read the press release for the study, “Extended sleep reduces pain sensitivity.”

Lack of sleep and an increase in strokes.

Roehrs’ study adds to growing evidence that more regular, restorative sleep can help reduce the risk of health problems, and the opposite is true, as well.

Last June, the University of Alabama at Birmingham released the results of a study that regularly sleeping less than six hours a night significantly increases the risk of stroke symptoms in middle-age to older adults who are of normal weight and at low risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). That’s worth repeating: Less than six hours of sleep per night increases the risk of strokes in adults of normal weight and not at risk for OSA.
It seems that under six hours of sleep per night is the critical variable, but why? Let’s take a look at the study. The University of Alabama researchers followed 5,666 people  for up to three years who had no history of strokes or stroke-like symptoms, transient ischemic attacks (when blood flow to the brain stops for a brief period causing stroke-like symptoms), or high risk for OSA at the start of the study.

For a period of three years, the researchers followed and studied the subjects’ first stroke symptoms, stroke risk factors, depression symptoms, demographic information and other various health behaviors. What they found was—after adjusting for body-mass index (BMI)—there was a strong association between daily sleep periods of less than six hours and a greater incidence of stroke symptoms for middle-age to older adults, even beyond other risk factors. Interestingly, the researchers did not find any link between short sleep periods and stroke symptoms in overweight and obese participants.

Still, the connection between short sleep and strokes is worthy of great attention from the medical community and general public. I agree with the Alabama study’s lead author, Megan Ruiter, PhD., who said, “The results of the Alabama study provide a strong argument for increasing physician and public awareness of the impact of sleep as a risk factor for stroke symptoms, especially among persons who appear to have few or no traditional risk factors for stroke.”

It looks like the medical community is taking this message to heart, no pun intended. Another study announced in late July is going on at the Alberta Health Services and the University of Calgary. There, Dr. Patrick Hanly of the university’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute is leading a study to learn more about the physiological connection between sleep apnea and stroke—specifically, the brain’s blood flow response in people with and without sleep apnea.

For the study, participants with sleep apnea stay overnight in the sleep laboratory at Calgary’s Foothills Medical Centre, where their breathing and cardiovascular responses are continuously monitored while they sleep. The next day, their brain blood flow response to reduced oxygen levels is assessed while they are awake. Then, the participants receive supplemental oxygen during sleep for two weeks, and are tested again to see if their cerebral defense mechanisms have improved. The researchers are also studying people without sleep apnea to see if their cerebral defense mechanisms function better than in those with sleep apnea. Hanly and team’s theory is that it is the lack of oxygen, or hypoxia, that people with sleep apnea experience during sleep that impairs the body’s normal defense mechanisms in the brain. A better understanding of this connection will lead to better prevention and treatment strategies.

I applaud the work of the Alabama and Calgary researchers. It’s time we all wake up to the health benefits of regular, restorative sleep

For more information, read the University of Alabama at Birmingham study, “Under 6 Hours of Sleep Tops Risks for Stroke in a Low-risk Population.”

Is the quality of your sleep making you gain weight?

How many of us would like to lose a few pounds, but look for external ways—outside of our bodies—to lose weight?  Perhaps we should be looking more inward, not only at our personal diet and exercise levels, but the length and level, or phase, of our sleep.

Recently, I read an article in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. In it, researchers from St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital and Columbia University in New York shed some light on the link between our length and phase of sleep, and hunger and weight gain.

The researchers investigated the effects of “sleep architecture” on hunger to determine whether specific stages of sleep—not just the duration of sleep—affect the appetite and food cravings in healthy adults.

What they found is compelling, and cause for further attention: the length of time of sleep, as well as the percentage of overall sleep in different sleep stages, are associated with decreased metabolic rate, increased hunger, and increased intake of calories, specifically from fat and carbohydrates.

For the study, head researcher Ari Shechter and his colleagues studied a random sample of 27 healthy adults between the ages of 30 and 45. The participants underwent two six-day periods of laboratory observation, during which they were slept different lengths of time.

During a "habitual sleep" phase, they were allowed to sleep for nine hours; in the "short sleep" phase, they were allowed just four hours of sleep. Each of the two sleep phase studies were separated by four weeks to make sure the participants fully recuperated, and the women were observed at the same phase of their menstrual cycle. The amount of time spent in each sleep phase—stage 1, stage 2, slow wave sleep (SWS), and REM sleep—was recorded.

For the first four days in both sleep phases, the participants ate meals to meet their energy requirements for weight maintenance. On day four, they rated their hunger and level of desire for different foods. On day five, their resting metabolic rate (RMR) was measured, and for the final two days of the sleep phase studies, the participants were allowed to select their own foods.

The researchers then compared the participants' sleep architectures in both the short sleep and habitual sleep conditions. They also analyzed the relationships between sleep architecture, resting metabolic rate, food intake and food desire ratings.

Shechter and his colleagues found that sleep duration is important, but sleep composition—the time and percentage of overall sleep spent in each stage—also plays an important role in the link between sleep and obesity.

Head researcher Shechter explained, “Any number of various factors like obstructive sleep apnea, certain drugs/medications, chronic exposure to short sleep duration, shift work, jet lag, and changes in the scheduling of the sleep episode, can affect sleep stage quantity and distribution. Our data may provide an explanation for the greater obesity prevalence observed within some of these conditions."

Read the full article, “Changes in Sleep Architecture Increase Hunger, Eating.”
The results of this study remind me of another study I blogged about not long ago on “social jetlag,” another reason for all of us to get more sleep.

Social jetlag is a modern syndrome caused by the discrepancy between our internal body clock and our social clock. And according to Professor Till Roenneberg, Ph.D. at the University of Munich’s Institute of Medical Psychology in Germany, that gap between how much sleep we need and how much we’re actually getting is contributing to our global weight gain and the growing worldwide obesity epidemic.

Each of us has a physiological clock, and that internal clock — also known as our circadian rhythm — is regulated by daylight and darkness to prompt us to go to sleep or wake up. We also have a social clock of things that make up our daily lives, such as our work schedules and social calendars.

The problem is, in our modern society of too-late work hours and too much time in front of computer screens, we are listening to our social clocks more than our physiological clocks, causing a greater sleep gap known as social jetlag. As a person’s circadian rhythm gets more out of whack, their physiological clock gets set later and later, keeping them awake into the night, and feeling chronically tired during the day.

In their study, Professor Roenneberg and his fellow researchers in Munich discovered that people with different weekday and weekend sleep schedules—i.e., those with more social jetlag — were three times more likely to be overweight. That is a significant increase worth repeating: Three times more likely to be overweight!

Furthermore, the body mass index (BMI) of the overweight participants tended to increase as the gap between their weekday and weekend sleep clocks widened.
I applaud the efforts of Roenneberg and his team for their work in particular, because they are bringing a public awareness of a growing syndrome that is affecting many people worldwide — not just shift workers or those with irregular work schedules.

So, why does social jetlag cause weight gain? One of the theories is that late hours encourage irregular meal times and late-night eating, when the body has more difficulty digesting and metabolizing food. That translates into body fat. Another is that chronically tired people are less likely to exercise and more likely to smoke and drink, further contributing to weight gain.

Whatever the causes, it is in all our personal best interests to become more aware of our own physiological clocks and get more restful sleep. Doing so can help us all maintain a healthy body weight, avoid many health problems, feel better and live happier, more productive lives.

So, now that you have this new knowledge about sleep, weight gain, I suggest you give yourself a wonderful personal gift: get more sleep, especially during the holiday season, when many people are overeating and busier than usual. Also spend more time outdoors and exercise. More and better sleep is one of the best gifts you can give yourself for the holidays.

Read Professor Roenneberg and his team’s full report entitled, “Social Jetlag and Obesity,” published in the May 10 issue of Current Biology.

Can Bees Teach Us About Sleep, Learning and Memory?

As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, we live in an exciting time for sleep research—it seems that every month, new studies are being published that provide us greater insight into the causes and treatments for various sleep disorders. And this month was no exception.

In a new article entitled, “Sleep-deprived bees have difficulty relearning”  in The Journal of Experimental Biology, researcher Randolf Menzel of the Institute of Biology in Berlin, Germany explains his four-decade study with bees, and what the results are teaching us about the effect of poor sleep on memory and learning.

The phases of sleep known as rapid eye movement (REM) and slow wave sleep (SWS) are involved in cognitive memory, such as learning motor skills and consciously remembering. As a result, restorative sleep not only rejuvenates us, it also helps consolidate memories.

To learn more about this relationship between the brain, sleep and memory consolidation, Menzel spent the last four decades studying honey bees. Why bees you ask? Well, according to Menzel, they are easy to train and well-motivated. Also, the human brain is too complex to dissect the neurocircuits that are linked to our memories. With bees, Menzel could identify the tiny circuits that control specific behaviors in their brains.

For the study, Menzel and his colleague, Lisa Beyaert, investigated the ability of bees to learn new routes from their beehive to a new feeding site, and second, the effect that loss of sleep would have on the bee's ability to learn the new route.

They provided a hive with a well-stocked feeder and trained the bees to visit the feeder and return home. To track the bees' flight during the experiments, the researchers used tiny radar antennas glued to the backs of the bees.

Once the researchers saw that the bees had memorized the route from the hive to home, they intercepted some of the bees at the feeder and transported them to a new location before releasing them again to find their way home. For the second part of the experiment, the researchers shook the bees awake every five minutes at night.

The researchers found that the insects could remember the way back to the hive after they had found it one time. However, when the scientists interrupted the bees’ sleep just after they had learned a new direct route, the bees were disoriented during the second attempt to return home.

Fewer than half the disoriented bees found their way back to the hive, and it took them twice as long as the bees with the usual amount of sleep. Menzel explained, "Without sleep, the bees are not able to consolidate the memory of the previous experiences with the new experience. Formation of the new memory is only possible during sleep.”

The well-rested bees, on the other hand, were able to find the direct way home after some brief training, but the sleep–deprived bees were disoriented and struggled to find their way. As in humans, sleep helps animals to store new experiences in such a way that earlier memories can be altered and supplemented. In other words, sleep helps us create new memories that override the previous memories.

So, what can bees teach us from Menzel’s study? That healthy, restorative sleep is vital to learning and consolidating memories. So get some good sleep tonight. That goes for you too, bees.

Read more about Menzel’s study in the article, “Sleep-deprived bees have difficulty relearning” in The Journal of Experimental Biology.

Veterans with Sleep Apnea: A Growing Human Issue

Whether or not you personally know someone who has served in Iraq, Afghanistan or someplace else on foreign soil, our returning veterans deserve our help and attention. While many have the scars of physical injury, many more veterans bear silent scars. A little known fact but of increasing concern in the medical community is that a growing number of veterans are suffering from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and its symptoms can be devastating for our returning war heroes as they readjust to civilian life

Consider these statistics: According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), one out of every five war veterans has been diagnosed with OSA — compared with only five out of 100 civilians in the general population. And between 2008 and 2010, the number of veterans who received medical benefits related to sleep apnea grew by 61 percent, from 39,145 cases in 2008 to 63,118 cases in 2010.

These numbers beg the question: Why do war veterans suffer from sleep apnea more than non-war veterans and civilians? Some VA doctors believe that it is due to the high number of repeat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan — soldiers are being exposed to higher levels of dust, smoke, stress and violence.

But what is at the core of this connection between war, OSA and other related conditions, such as daytime sleepiness, memory loss, a decrease in work productivity, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension. Researchers at the Wayne State University (WSU) School of Medicine are beginning to find out.

Since the mid-2000s, WSU researchers have been studying 145 American immigrants who left Iraq before the 1991 Gulf War, and 205 who fled Iraq after the Gulf War began. All lived in the Detroit area at the time, and were asked about socio-demographics, pre-migration trauma, how they rated their current health, physician-diagnosed and physician-treated OSA, and any somatic and psychosomatic disorders.

The study’s lead investigator, Bengt Arnetz, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., School of Medicine professor of occupational and environmental health, and deputy director of the Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at Wayne State said, “It may be the stress of war that leads to fractured sleep, and that no one had explored this possible link before, although basic research suggests it as plausible.”

The results of the study are published in the October 2012 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine in the article, "Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, and Health in Immigrants.” The research showed that those who left Iraq after the war began and suffered from mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, and self-rated their physical health as worse than their actual health, were 43 times more likely than pre-Gulf War immigrants to report OSA and later develop major chronic health issues, such as cardiovascular disease.

On the results, Arnetz said, “It's a known fact that the more exposure to violence you have, the more likely you are to report post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, and the worse your self-rated health is, the more likely your actual health will suffer in five to 10 years.” And I reiterate, those who were exposed to the violence of the war in Iraq were almost twice as likely to experience PTSD and depression, but also Obstructive Sleep Apnea and other chronic health conditions. I applaud Arnetz and his colleagues’ efforts, and encourage them to continue their studies so that we in the medical community can better understand, diagnose and treat war- and stress-related health conditions.

What about treatment? Diagnosing OSA in veterans can be trickier than non-veterans because of the possibility of other military-related medical conditions, such as PTSD. In addition, some military veterans suffering from OSA may underestimate the health benefits of restorative sleep, rather than be properly diagnosed and treated since its common during deployment to have fractured sleep patterns.

The good news is that there is more awareness of OSA than ever before, especially within the military. Back in February 2012, Ventus Medical, the company that makes Provent Therapy, announced that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs approved a multi-year, Federal Supply Schedule contract that would enable more veterans to get Provent Therapy treatment — a small, non-invasive nasal device for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

This is good timing, considering that a substantial percentage of veterans don't accept or adhere to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, even though it is a safe and effective treatment. According to Richard B. Berry, M.D., Professor of Medicine at University of Florida, "There is a great need for access to new, clinically-proven therapies—particularly easy-to-use treatments — for the increasing number of veterans with obstructive sleep apnea."

As more and more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are realizing their post-war health problems, and because many Vietnam veterans are getting older, the number of veterans applying for OSA-related disability benefits will only continue to rise in the coming years. While OSA is a chronic condition creating a significant burden on the Veterans Healthcare System — the VA spends upwards of $500 million a year to treat veterans with sleep apnea — I believe that it is our duty as a nation to provide proper OSA treatment to our veterans to prevent additional chronic health issues. To read more about the study, go to the Wayne State University website.

Adolescents, Poor Sleep and the Toll on Their Health

Most people consider sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, snoring and poor quality sleep an adult health issue, but research is mounting that young people may suffer from sleep disorders as much as adults do.

Earlier this year, Penn State researchers published the results of a study which showed that children who have learning, attention and/or behavior problems may be suffering from a condition known as excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS)—even if tests indicate that they are getting enough sleep at night.

And The New York Times article from April 16, 2012 entitled “Attention Problems May Be Sleep Related”  also examined the relationship between children’s sleep quality and the ability to pay attention at school.

The article was on another recent study called “Sleep-Disordered Breathing in a Population-Based Cohort: Behavioral Outcomes at 4 and 7 Years,” published in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

One researcher in the article noted that cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (A.D.H.D.) in children may have been misdiagnosed—that the cause of behavior such as moodiness and hyperactivity might have been due to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or other sleep disorder, which caused sleep deprivation in the child. Worse, the drugs prescribed for the misdiagnosed A.D.H.D. might actually be making the child’s symptoms worse.

Now, new research from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto found a link between poor sleep quality in adolescents and a host of negative health issues, including higher cholesterol levels, higher body mass index BMI, larger waist size, higher blood pressure, increased risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease later in life.

The hospital is one of Canada’s most research-intensive hospitals, and is recognized as one of the world’s foremost pediatric health-care institutions. For the study, lead researcher Dr. Indra Narang, Director of Sleep Medicine and Staff Respirologist at SickKids, and her colleagues studied 4,104 adolescents in the Healthy Heart Schools' Program that screens and identifies teens at risk of coronary vascular disease.

The young participants slept an average of 7.9 hours during the week, and 9.4 hours on weekends. Their sleep patterns, length and quality of sleep were recorded, and data was collected on their BMIs, cholesterol levels and blood pressures. They also found out if any participants had a family history of premature cardiovascular disease.

The results of the study were published in the October 1 edition of the CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal. Almost 20 percent of the adolescents reported poor sleep quality during the week, and 10 percent reported poor sleep quality on weekends. Of the participants, almost 6 percent reported using medications to help them sleep.

From the data collected, the researchers found a link between poor sleep quality—also known as sleep disturbance—and cardiovascular risk in adolescents, based on high cholesterol levels, increased BMI and hypertension. In addition, researchers found a higher sleep disturbance score in adolescents with higher cholesterol level, higher BMI, larger waist size, higher blood pressure and increased risk of hypertension.

Higher sleep disturbance scores were also found in the adolescents who consumed more fried foods, soft drinks, sweets and caffeinated drinks, exercised less and spent more time in front of computer screens. Shorter sleep duration was also associated with higher BMI and waist size. While more research is needed, the findings of the study add to compelling evidence that poor sleep quality in young people is a problem that should be addressed.
Parents, caretakers, teachers and doctors should take a young person’s “sleepy” complaints seriously, and look for clues in their behavior that may indicate sleep deprivation, including excessive daytime sleepiness and symptoms such as inattentive behavior, trouble learning and paying attention, and weight gain/obesity.

I agree with Dr. Brian McCrindle, senior author and cardiologist at SickKids, who recommends that parents do what they can now to help improve the sleep habits of children early in life, such as monitor their caffeine intake and bedtimes, and make sure their bedrooms do not have too much media, especially late at night. Doing so can help ensure that a child’s neurobehavioral challenges are properly diagnosed and treated, leading to better behavior, greater ability to learn and a happier child.

Read the full report, “Poor sleep in adolescents may increase risk of heart disease.”