More than 70,000 men and women participated in the Australian study, which was followed for over eight years. Before the study period, the volunteers wore a device for a week to measure their daily activity, which helped create a sleep regularity index. After seven days, the participants were assigned to one of three groups: regular sleepers with an index above 87, moderate sleepers with an index between 72 and 87, and irregular sleepers with an index below 72.
Before drawing conclusions, the scientists compared the results with other important factors, such as smoking, coffee and alcohol consumption, mental and physical health, shift work, and other criteria.
It turned out that irregular sleep patterns increased the risk of cardiovascular disease by 26%, while moderate sleep patterns increased the risk by 8%, according to New Atlas. These individuals were more likely to suffer strokes, heart attacks, develop heart failure, and other illnesses.
It is important to note that even when the condition of healthy sleep duration, which is 7-9 hours per day, was met, the risks remained if a person went to bed and got up at different times.
"It's not enough to just get enough sleep. Regular sleep periods are crucial," the authors emphasized.
The results of this study are supported by other data. For example, scientists previously found that even minor disruptions in circadian rhythms disrupt metabolism. Shifts of just a few hours resulted in negative consequences lasting several days.
