New research being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session Together With the World Congress of Cardiology indicates that getting sufficient, high-quality sleep can have a positive impact on your heart health, overall well-being, and longevity. The study reveals that young people with better sleep habits have a reduced likelihood of early death, with poor sleep patterns accounting for approximately 8% of all-cause mortality.
For their analysis, Qian and team included data from 172,321 people who participated in the National Health Interview Survey between 2013 and 2018. This survey is fielded each year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Health Statistics to help gauge the health of the U.S. population and includes questions about sleep and sleep habits.
“If people have all these ideal sleep behaviors, they are more likely to live longer,” Qian said. “So, if we can improve sleep overall, and identifying sleep disorders is especially important, we may be able to prevent some of this premature mortality.” “Even from a young age, if people can develop these good sleep habits of getting enough sleep, making sure they are sleeping without too many distractions and have good sleep hygiene overall, it can greatly benefit their overall long-term health,” Qian said, adding that for the present analysis they estimated gains in life expectancy starting at age 30, but the model can be used to predict gains at older ages too.