The international study found sleep issues like too little or too much shut eye, could all be linked to an increased risk of stroke.
According to the study published last week in the journal Neurology, impaired sleep quality, snorting and sleep apnea are also associated with greater risk of stroke.
“Not only do our results suggest that individual sleep problems may increase a person’s risk of stroke but having more than five of these symptoms may lead to five times the risk of stroke compared to those who do not have any sleep problems,” study author Christine Mc Carthy, of the University of Galway in Ireland, said in a press release.“With these results, doctors could have earlier conversations with people who are having sleep problems,” Mc Carthy said.
The reason behind that is likely because people with sleep disorders are experiencing an increased heart rate and higher blood pressure each time they briefly wake up, he explained. “And when they’re waking up all that blood pressure and heart rate response is even bigger,” he said.