Falling asleep at this specific time can be good for your heart health

Your sleep habits affect a variety of things related to your health, including your heart. According to a new study, there is actually a heart health sweet spot for your bedtime: between 10:00 PM and 11:00 PM

The report, published this week in the European Heart Journal – Digital Health, analyzed over 88,000 adults over a six-year period trying to understand the relationship between sleep and heart health. Researchers were able to access information about the subject’s lifestyle, demographics, physical activity, and health.

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After considering a variety of factors such as lifestyle, stress, gender, and more, the study found that heart disease increased by 12% in people who went to bed between 11pm and 11:59 pm. That percentage rose to 25% when people went to bed after midnight. Women seemed to be more affected by these times compared to men because they were at higher risk.

On NBC News, study co-author David Plans issued a statement explaining how circadian rhythms work and why our bedtime may play an important role in our heart health. “Although we cannot conclude causality from our study, the results suggest that going to bed early or late may be more likely to disrupt the internal clock, with adverse consequences for cardiovascular health,” he said.

Photo by Bruno Aguirre via Unsplash

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Heart disease is the leading cause of death for most people in America and is therefore a major concern for most of us. It is influenced by internal factors like cholesterol levels and blood pressure, but also by external factors like smoking and, apparently, your sleeping habits.

While the results are inconclusive and do not suggest that sleeping earlier will lower your risk of heart disease, they do imply that there is a link between good sleep and heart health.