Deposits of calcium in the blood vessels of heart disease are known to a predictor of the development of coronary heart disease. Sleeping just one extra hour each night is associated with a one-third reduction in the development of coronary artery calcification (CAC), according to a report published in the December 24, 2008 issues of the Journal of the American Medical Association .

Recent studies have shown that sleep duration correlates with established risk factors for CAC, including blood sugar control, blood pressure, and body mass index. Researchers from the University of Chicago and their colleagues examined data from 495 middle-aged participants of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study to determine whether sleep duration and quality were associated with the development of CAC over 5 years. They found that the reduction in CAC due to one additional hour of sleep was comparable to the reduction obtained by lowering systolic blood pressure (or, the higher blood pressure number) by over 16 mm Hg.

The lower incidence of calcification in the coronary arteries due to increased sleep was independent of other confounding factors, such as age, gender, diabetes, blood pressure, and body mass index. The findings of this study highlight a potentially simple way for people to lower their CAC at home without medications. However, these results need to be confirmed and it still remains to be seen whether getting more sleep would affect the number of heart-disease related events, such as heart attack and stroke.

Source

JAMA. 2008;300(24):2859-2866.