Too Many Late Nights Can Kill You

A new study finds sleep deprivation and disrupted sleep patterns can put individuals at risk of strokes, heart attacks and other cardiovascular events and disorders.

Researchers from the University of Warwick Medical School found that people who sleep fewer than six hours per night suffer a 48 percent increased risk of dying from or developing heart disease and a 15 percent greater chance of developing or dying from stroke.

The research followed more than 470,000 participants from Japan, the United States, United Kingdom and Sweden with data spanning seven to 25 years in some instances.

Professor Cappuccio and co-author Dr Michelle Miller, from the University of Warwick, said chronic shortened sleep patterns produce hormones and chemicals in the body that increase risk of developing hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity.

Sleeping for longer than nine hours repeatedly, however, may indicate cardiovascular disease.