Skimping on sleep, or getting too much of it, can boost your risk of heart attack, says a new study by the University of Colorado at Boulder. In the research, published in the ‘Journal of the American College of Cardiology’, scientists compared those who slept six to nine hours per night, to those who slept fewer than six hours and found that the latter were 20% more likely to have a heart attack. Those who slept more than nine hours were 34% more likely. At the same time, those who were genetically predisposed to heart attack found the risk reduced by 18% when they slept between six and nine hours nightly. Says researcher Iyas Daghlas, “It’s kind of a hopeful message, that regardless of your inherited risk for heart attack, sleeping a healthy amount may cut that risk just like eating a healthy diet, not smoking, and other lifestyle approaches can.”
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