We know that poor quality sleep is associated with deterioration in health (mood problems, depression, weight gain, diabetes, hypertension, etc.). A link has been established in particular with cardiovascular risk and the Inserm team led by Jean-Philippe Empana, at the Cardiovascular Research Center in Paris, wanted to explore this point further, studying the risk of cardiovascular accidents (acute coronary syndrome or stroke) linked to 5 components of sleep: the duration of sleep each night, the chronotype (being morning or evening), the frequency of insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness and sleep apnea.
The 5 rules for good sleep
“ Usually, studies focus on a single dimension of sleep, mainly sleep duration or the presence of sleep apnea, but good sleep or healthy sleep encompasses several dimensions. », Explains Aboubakari Nambiema, researcher at Inserm and main author of the study.
The researchers integrated these five dimensions into a score by assigning 1 point when it is optimal or 0 points otherwise. The overall score thus varies from 0 (worst score) to 5 (optimal score).
This score was used in two surveys: one in Paris with 10,157 adults aged 50 to 75 and the other in Lausanne with 6733 people over 35. The occurrence of cardiovascular events was then monitored for approximately 8 to 10 years. By combining the data from the two surveys, a first analysis confirms that the higher the initial score (at entry into the study), the lower the risk of cardiovascular accident.
“In other words, almost 60% of cardiovascular accidents could potentially be avoided if the individuals all had an optimal sleep score” underline the researchers. An “optimal” score which therefore corresponds to:
- 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night
- be a morning person
- not have insomnia
- not suffer from sleep apnea
- not have excessive sleepiness during the day
Source : Healthy sleep score changes and incident cardiovascular disease in European prospective community‐based cohorts, European heart journal, October 2023
