Research indicates that individuals who experience sleep issues could be at a greater risk for stroke. Sleep problems included poor quality rest, sleeping too little or too much, taking long naps during the daytime, sleep apnea, snorting and snoring issues as well.
Individuals with five or more sleep issues had an even higher stroke risk. While this study demonstrates a link between sleeping issues and stroke risk, it doesn’t demonstrate causality; simply that sleeping issues increase it.
Sleep issues could increase an individual’s risk of stroke; having five or more symptoms increases it significantly compared to those without any sleep issues. Therefore, sleep issues should be prioritized for stroke prevention.
The study included 4,4996 individuals, including 2,243 stroke survivors compared to 2,253 non-stroke sufferers; participants averaged age was 62.
They answered questions regarding their sleep behaviors such as quality and duration of restful slumber, breathing issues associated with sleeping, napping habits, snorting patterns, and snoring behavior.
Sleep duration and quality were found to increase the risk of stroke compared to individuals sleeping the average amount. A total of 162 individuals who experienced a stroke got less than five hours of sleep per night compared with 43 who didn’t, while 151 who did had one managed 9 or more hours per night versus only 84 without experiencing one.
Researchers found that individuals sleeping less than 5 hours had three times the risk of stroke as those sleeping an average of 7 hours, and individuals sleeping over 9 hours two times.
Studies revealed that those taking more than an hour long naps had an 88% increased risk of stroke compared to individuals who did not nap for over one hour.
Breathing issues were also assessed while sleeping, including snoring, sleep apnea, and snorting. Snoring increased stroke risk 91% compared to not snoring; those who snorted had almost three times higher risk than non-snorters; individuals with sleep apnea also faced three times greater stroke risks than non-affected counterparts.
Results were consistent after taking into account other potential risk factors for stroke, such as alcohol consumption, smoking, depression and physical activity.
One limitation of the study was that individuals self-reported sleep-related symptoms; thus not all the information may have been accurate.
