Sleep may play a bigger role in women’s heart health than many realize, especially after midlife. According to research published in the journal Menopause, poor sleep stood out as the strongest predictor of cardiovascular disease events and death from any cause among women over 45 who were studied.
The analysis drew on health data from about 3,000 women in the long-running Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, or SWAN. Researchers looked at several measures from the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8, including blood glucose, blood pressure, sleep quality, and nicotine use. While those four factors were the most important in forecasting future cardiovascular disease risk, sleep emerged as the leading predictor of whether participants would experience a cardiovascular event or die from any cause. Women with better sleep quality had lower risk in both areas, according to the report.
Why sleep and heart health are connected
Experts cited in the report point to several possible reasons for the link. Poor sleep can contribute to inflammation, which may affect the cells lining the heart’s veins and play a role in cardiovascular disease. Sleep loss may also influence daily habits, including eating patterns, which can over time affect nutrition, blood sugar, diabetes risk, and heart disease. In addition, chronic sleep deprivation is associated with high blood pressure, higher risk of heart attack and stroke, obesity, and poor blood sugar control — all of which are cardiovascular risk factors.
In the study, sleep quality was measured through responses about trouble falling asleep, waking up during the night, and waking too early and struggling to fall back asleep. The findings are especially relevant for menopausal women, who face rising cardiovascular risk as estrogen levels decline and sleep problems become more common during the transition. Since cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death for women, the research suggests that protecting sleep may be an important part of protecting heart health in midlife and beyond.
Source: womenshealthmag.com
