Many people will stay up late, doomscrolling, having late-night binge sessions and then wake up early for work, gym classes, and to get their day started. While you may believe that this is normal or that your
body has got used to this way of life, in actuality, it can be a ticking time bomb. It not only has an adverse effect on your mental health, eyesight and mind, but can also lead to heart issues.
We speak to Dr Rushikesh Patil, Associate Director-Cardiologist at Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital, Powai, Mumbai, to understand in what ways your sleep be affected if you sleep in or go to be late.
The term “circadian”, meaning “around the day” in Latin, refers to the body’s internal clock, which regulates sleep and wake cycles. Lying awake through late nights with lights and screen displays on tricks the mind into thinking it is daytime, delaying the release of sleep hormones and the onset of sleep. Also, sleeping in late means that deep, refreshing sleep occurs earlier in the night, which makes one feel tired even when they have spent sufficient time in bed. Eventually, this interrupts the sleeping cycle, causing daytime fatigue, imbalances, and other problems.
Sleeping is a natural way of reducing blood pressure levels for a given number of hours, but when one lacks good sleeping patterns, this causes an increase in hormones such as cortisol, which then affects the sympathetic nervous system and causes inflammation, thereby causing heart attacks, strokes, and damage to blood vessels.
Sleep deprivation can also cause arrhythmias – irregular heartbeats – that may range from harmless skipped beats to serious medical conditions. Poor sleep also disrupts appetite hormones, increasing desires for high-calorie foods and paving the way for weight gain and insulin resistance, two major risk factors for heart disease.
Often, sleep and obesity feed into a vicious cycle: lack of sleep promotes weight gain and insulin resistance, which can lead to sleep apnoea that further worsens sleep quality. Higher levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin and lower levels of the satiety hormone leptin in people who do not get enough sleep drive overeating and raise blood sugar, thereby increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes by as much as 30% compared to regular sleepers.
Poor sleep, if it continues, keeps stress hormones high that encourage high blood pressure, inflammation, and blood vessel damage, putting extra strain on the heart and elevating the risk of cardiovascular events. Among more than 300,000 adults from the UK Biobank, being a night owl – that is, sleeping and waking later – was associated with a 79% higher risk for poor cardiovascular health and a 16% greater risk of heart attack or stroke during approximately 14 years, mainly because of lifestyle factors such as smoking, lack of sleep, and irregular schedules. In contrast, early birds had a 5% lower risk of bad heart health. Night owls showed higher stress and less morning sunlight exposure, an important regulator of the circadian rhythm, increasing the risks for high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and unhealthy eating.
Nevertheless, for night owls who are consistent with their sleeping patterns and have good lifestyles and long enough sleep per day, these dangers can be greatly averted. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that healthy adults receive 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night, 9 to 12 hours for healthy children aged 6 to 12 years, and 8 to 10 hours for healthy teenagers aged 13 to 17 years. Sleeping for less than these numbers is deemed insufficient sleep. Being consistent with sleeping by going to bed and waking up at roughly consistent times daily, even at weekends, is vital. Good sleeping is not a luxury but a priority, and conforming to one’s own internal clock is a great defence against heart disease.
