Women who skimp on sleep could be raising their risk of heart disease by 75 percent

Middle-aged women who sleep less than five hours every night dramatically increase their risk for cardiovascular disease, according to a major new study published in the American Heart Association’s journal, Circulation.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh followed nearly 3,000 women, aged 42 to 52, over the course of 22 years, recording their sleeping habits and heart health.

The majority of the women (55%) said they slept about six hours and 30 minutes each night, but 14% reported getting less than five hours of shut-eye on a regular basis.

The study found that the women who slept less than five hours per night on average were 72% more likely to suffer from strokes, heart attacks, heart failure and coronary artery disease than those who slept more than six hours every night.

The health impact was even worse for women who struggled with insomnia symptoms more than three times per week and slept less than an average of five hours a night.

Those women were found to have a 75% higher chance of developing heart disease.

The experts suggested that the connection between sleep and heart disease could be due to the fact that insufficient sleep can raise blood pressure and trigger insulin resistance, which raises the risk of damaging blood vessels.

A lack of proper sleep also increased the women’s risk for obesity — which contributes to cardiovascular problems.

The researchers suggested that this was likely due to the exhausted body’s inability to monitor hunger and fullness.

Previous studies have shown that many adults suffer from increased sleep issues and degrading cardiovascular health as they enter middle age.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend adults tuck themselves in for at least seven hours a night, but it seems many Americans are struggling to meet this important goal, although younger generations are discovering they need more than the average recommended amount of sleep to fully function.

A lack of deep sleep can also have detrimental effects on your physical and mental health. 

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women — in 2021, it was responsible for about 1 in every 5 female deaths, the CDC reported.