Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise, is how the old saying goes. But, is it true that going to bed early is good for your health?
A peer-reviewed study published Monday (Nov. 8) in the European Heart Journal looked at the sleep and heart patterns of about 88,000 adults over the course of six years.
According to the data, there was a 12% greater risk for developing cardiovascular disease among participants who went to sleep between 11 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. and a 25% higher risk among people who went to bed at midnight or later. Going to bed early didn’t seem to help, either, as participants who fell asleep before 10 p.m. had a 24% increase in risk.
The study took into account participants’ age, gender, sleep duration, sleep irregularity, being an early bird or a night owl, smoking status, body-mass index, diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and socioeconomic status, too. With all those factors weighed in, they determined that consistent sleeping at or after midnight increased an adult’s risk of heart disease.
So, the moral of the story is that the best time for you to fall asleep to have a healthy heart is that sweet spot between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Read the full study here.