Tag Archives: Insomnia

Got insomnia? Watch your heart health

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People with a genetic predisposition to insomnia had a higher risk of heart disease, heart failure and stroke that affected large blood vessels, according to a recent study. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Serena Gordon, HealthDay


If you spend a lot of nights watching the clock instead of sleeping, new research suggests you may need to be as concerned about your heart health as you are about lost shut-eye.


People with genetic variants linked to insomnia have an increased risk of heart disease, heart failure and stroke, according to the study.


“Good sleep is important for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease,” said study author Susanna Larsson. She’s from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.


“A potential explanation for our observed associations between insomnia and heart disease and stroke is that insomnia problems potentially lead to the metabolic syndrome, including high blood pressure, increased body weight and type 2 diabetes, which increase the risk of coronary artery disease and stroke,” she said.


Insomnia affects up to 30% of the general population, the study authors said. More than 200 genetic variants are associated with insomnia complaints.


For the new study, the researchers looked at health information on more than 1.3 million people in Europe. The investigators compared whether or not genetic variants linked to insomnia were also associated with the risk of heart conditions and stroke.


The study found that people with a genetic predisposition to insomnia had a higher risk of heart disease, heart failure and stroke that affected large blood vessels. Other types of stroke were not increased.


The researchers also noted that the risk of a potentially dangerous irregular heart rhythm known as atrial fibrillation wasn’t linked to insomnia.


Certain conditions, including heart disease and risk factors for heart disease, such as sleep apnea, may cause difficulty sleeping—and that makes it hard to tease out which condition comes first.


But, that’s a strength of this research, Larsson said.


Because they used genetic information to define insomnia instead of symptoms, it’s easier to see if sleep woes are directly related to the increased risk of heart problems and stroke.


There’s a flip side to that argument, however.


Because it’s not clear if the study volunteers actually had sleep troubles, or if they just had genes that made insomnia more likely, it’s hard to say if insomnia symptoms are truly the cause of these heart concerns and strokes.


Dr. John Osborne, an American Heart Association spokesperson and director of cardiology at State of the Heart Cardiology in Southlake, Texas, said he won’t be losing any sleep over the findings.


“It’s interesting and they used a powerful statistical technique that appears to be pretty accurate at identifying causal relationships. But the study didn’t identify how severe insomnia was or if people just have a tendency to insomnia,” he explained.


And, he said, the links they did find between insomnia and other conditions were only weak associations. Plus, the study was done in a European population. The findings may not be the same in more diverse groups of people.


Still, both experts said it’s a good idea to get the sleep you need for your health.


Larsson suggested that “individuals with poor sleep should try to change their habits and reduce stress in order to improve their sleep. Our genetic make-up has only a very minor influence on our risk of insomnia, which is mainly driven by behaviors, stress and other environmental factors.”


Osborne said stress management can help with sleep, as can avoiding stimulating substances like cigarettes and caffeine. He said to talk to your primary care doctor if you’re having a lot of trouble getting a full night’s sleep.


The study was published recently in the journal Circulation.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.



Wakeful nights, woeful days

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Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat

By Alan Mozes, HealthDay


If you were up all night and you ache all over the next morning, your lack of sound slumber might be to blame.


New research found that sleep loss delivered a double whammy to the brain that all but guaranteed greater levels of body pain.


“Activity in the somatosensory cortex, previously associated with the location and intensity of pain, was enhanced following sleep loss,” explained study author Adam Krause.


And “in two regions called the striatum and the insula, sleep deprivation decreased the activity associated with pain (relief),” he added. These regions control the release of dopamine, often called the “feel-good” hormone.


Krause is a Ph.D. candidate with the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley.


During the study, 25 healthy, young participants got the normal eight hours of sleep one night. A week or so later, the same group underwent a night of no sleep whatsoever.


After each session, all the volunteers underwent “thermal pain sensitivity” tests, followed by MRI scans to monitor brain activity while their legs were exposed to uncomfortable levels of heat.


After a full night of sleep, most participants reported feeling heat discomfort at about 111 degrees Fahrenheit.


But after a night of no sleep, that pain threshold dropped to 107 degrees F.


Brain scans pinpointed the neurological basis for the uptick in pain sensitivity following sleep loss.


The research team then surveyed 60 adults (average age 38) over a 48-hour survey period. All had reported experiencing pain during the survey period, and all were asked to keep sleep diaries and report mood and anxiety levels, as well as rank pain intensity when experienced.


“We found that reductions from one night to the next in the quality of the sleep, rather than just the quantity—total hours asleep—predicted worse pain the following day,” Krause noted.


“The optimistic takeaway here is that better sleep can help manage and lower pain. (It’s) a natural analgesic that we can all pick up in repeat prescription each night, if we choose,” he said.


“It is our hope that this research especially encourages health care systems to bring sleep closer to the center of treatment. If we can improve sleep conditions in the setting in which patients are most often in pain—the hospital ward—perhaps we can reduce the dosage of narcotic drugs and clear hospital beds sooner,” Krause suggested.


The findings were published recently in the Journal of Neuroscience.


Monika Haack is an associate professor of neurology with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Human Sleep & Inflammatory Systems Laboratory in Boston. She expressed little surprise at the findings.


“There is very strong evidence to date—and the current study supports this again—that short or disturbed sleep, either in clinical (settings) or in the general population, increases our experience of next-day pain,” Haack said.


“And a number of studies, including the current study, have shown that sleep is a stronger predictor of pain than pain is a predictor of how we sleep,” she added.


“I think the most important and novel finding of the study is that the authors found a biological basis, neuronal brain structures, that correspond to the pain sensitivity increase observed after sleep loss. Only if we understand the biology and mechanisms underlying this relationship will we be able to develop target- or mechanism-specific strategies to prevent pain-processing changes associated with short or disturbed sleep,” Haack concluded.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Night owl? Check the family tree

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Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Can’t sleep at night? Perhaps genetics is to blame.


In a new study, dozens of gene regions linked to insomnia have been pinpointed—and researchers also report a link between insomnia and heart disease.


American and British investigators analyzed data from more than 450,000 people in the United Kingdom—29 percent of whom reported frequent sleeplessness—and identified 57 gene regions associated with insomnia.


Those links were independent of known insomnia risk factors such as lifestyle, caffeine consumption, depression or stress.


“Our findings confirm a role for genetics in insomnia symptoms and expand upon the four previously found (genetic regions) for this condition,” said study lead author Jacqueline Lane. She’s a researcher at the Center for Genomic Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.


“All of these identified regions help us understand why some people get insomnia, which pathways and systems are affected and point to possible new therapeutic targets,” Lane added in a hospital news release.


Researchers also found evidence that increased insomnia symptoms nearly doubled the risk of coronary artery disease. They were also linked to depression and a reduced sense of well-being.


“Insomnia has a really significant impact on millions of people worldwide. We’ve long known there’s a link between insomnia and chronic disease. Now our findings suggest that depression and heart disease are actually a result of persistent insomnia,” said co-lead author Samuel Jones. He’s a research fellow at the University of Exeter in England.


Lane said these results open possibilities for future medications.


“All of these identified regions are possible new therapeutic targets for insomnia,” she said. “And 16 of these regions contain known drug targets.”


This in turn could have an effect on heart disease, as “the new causal relationships indicate the potential usefulness of insomnia therapeutics as possible treatments for coronary artery disease and depression,” Lane said.


The study was published online recently in Nature Genetics.


Insomnia affects 10 percent to 20 percent of people worldwide, and studies have suggested that about a third of the risk of insomnia is inherited.


Previous research has suggested that insomnia increases the risk of anxiety disorders, alcoholism, major depression and heart disease, but little has been known about the mechanisms involved in that increased risk.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.