Insomnia linked to increased risk of stroke

• According to new research, insomnia can increase your risk of stroke.
• People under the age of 50 with moderate to severe insomnia had almost four times the risk of stroke than people with no symptoms.
• Brain health experts explain the results.

If you find yourself lying awake at night unable to fall asleep often, you may have trouble sleeping. insomnia. Although this condition may seem inconsequential, besides your lack of rest, new research shows that people with insomnia may be at higher risk for stroke.

A study published in Neurology studied the link between insomnia symptoms and stroke risk. The study included 31,126 people (mean age 61) who had no history of stroke at the start of the study. Patients answered questions about how often they had trouble falling asleep, waking up during the night, waking up too early, and not being able to go back to sleep. The researchers rated the severity of symptoms on a scale of 1 (least severe) to 8 (most severe).

The researchers followed the participants after nine years, during which time the participants suffered a total of 2,101 strokes. The researchers found that those who reported experiencing five to eight symptoms of insomnia had a 51% higher risk of stroke than those who reported no symptoms.

The link between insomnia symptoms and strokes was stronger in participants younger than 50 who had five to eight symptoms, having almost four times the risk of stroke compared to people without symptoms. However, people aged 50 or older with five to eight symptoms still had an increased risk (38%) of stroke compared to people with no symptoms.

“This difference in risk between these two age groups may be explained by the higher frequency of stroke at older ages,” said study author Wendemi Sawadogo, MD, MPH, Ph. D., in a statement. Press release. “The list of stroke risk factors such as high blood pressure and diabetes can develop as people age, making insomnia symptoms one of many possible factors. This striking difference suggests that managing insomnia symptoms at a younger age may be an effective strategy for stroke prevention.

So what is insomnia and how does it impact stroke risk?

Insomnia is either difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, says Amit Sachdev, MD, director of the division of neuromuscular medicine at Michigan State University. Simply put, “insomnia is linked to increased blood pressure, which may increase the risk of stroke.”

Poor sleep likely causes inflammatory and metabolic dysregulation associated with types of diabetesheart disease and high blood pressure, which are known risk factors for stroke, adds Adi Iyer, MD, a neurosurgeon at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. “The link between poor sleep and stroke in older patients is probably weaker because the risk of stroke in general is much higher in older people across all domains. As patients age, the influence relative sleep decreases compared to their other health problems such as hypertension, diabetesAnd heart disease.”

The bottom line

Sleep disturbances should be treated like any other serious health condition because they have long-term implications for overall health, including the risk of stroke, Dr. Iyer says. “The significance of this study is that clinicians can help optimize sleep patterns to reduce the risk of stroke, especially in younger patients.” However, he notes that the main limitation of this study is that sleep patterns were self-reported in a survey and the different types of insomnia were not well distinguished by participants, so take the results with a grain of salt. salt.

Stress reduction and good bodily health are both important in reducing the risk of stroke, says Dr. Sachdev, and both are influenced by sleep. “It may sound boring, but the body loves a good routine,” he adds. Finding one can go a long way in supporting a good night’s sleep and, therefore, a long way to brain health.

Magdalene, Preventionassociate editor of , has a history with health writing from her experience as an editorial assistant at WebMD and her personal research at university. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in biopsychology, cognition, and neuroscience — and she helps strategize for success across Preventionsocial media platforms.