Research indicates that individuals experiencing insomnia symptoms, including difficulty sleeping, falling asleep quickly and waking too early could have an increased risk of stroke.
This study also showed that risk for individuals under 50 was considerably greater. Although this does not prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship between symptoms of insomnia and stroke, only that there may be one exists is suggested by this evidence.
As there are various therapies that could assist individuals in improving their sleep quality, identifying which sleep issues lead to an increased stroke risk may allow behavioral therapy or treatments for individuals experiencing sleep issues that could help lower future stroke risks.
This study comprised 31,126 individuals aged 61 or younger who did not have a history of stroke at the start of the study.
Individuals were asked four questions concerning how often they experienced difficulty falling asleep, waking during the night, awakening too early and being unable to fall back asleep and whether or not they felt refreshed in the morning.
Response options were: most of the time, occasionally or hardly ever or never. Scores ranged from 0-8; higher scores indicate more severe insomnia symptoms.
Individuals were observed for 9 years on average and over that time 2,101 stroke cases were identified.
As other factors relating to stroke risk were taken into consideration – such as smoking, alcohol use and physical activity levels – it was observed that those experiencing one to four symptoms of insomnia had a 16% increased stroke risk than individuals without any such symptoms.
Of the 19,149 individuals experiencing 1 to 4 symptoms of insomnia, 1,300 experienced a stroke; among the 6,282 without any signs or symptoms of insomnia 365 experienced one; those with 5-8 symptoms experienced 51% increased risk for stroke; out of the 5,695 individuals displaying 5-8 symptoms 436 had experienced one themselves.
Young adults under 50 were more at risk for stroke when experiencing symptoms of insomnia; those who reported five or eight symptoms had nearly four times greater stroke risk compared with individuals without any insomnia symptoms at all.
People under 50 with 5-8 symptoms of insomnia experienced 27 strokes; individuals aged 50 or over with these same number of symptoms had a 38% higher risk than individuals without symptoms at all; out of 654 such individuals aged 50+ experiencing 5-8 symptoms had at least one stroke!
This disparity could be attributable to the increased incidence of stroke among older individuals due to factors like diabetes and hypertension; insomnia symptoms could also play a factor.
This finding suggests that treating insomnia symptoms early may be an effective strategy for avoiding stroke. This correlation increased further among individuals suffering from depression, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.
One drawback of this research was its self-reporting nature; therefore, information could have been inaccurately provided.
