Sleep is an interesting thing to the extent that if you consistently deprive yourself of it, it could lead to stroke or eventual death.
Few days ago, The Sun reported that an 18-year-old gamer died after staying up days on end, playing games on his mobile phone and computer.
After examination, the police confirmed that “this young man may have died from heart failure due to lack of sleep” (1).
As unfortunate as the incident may appear, people still walk that road.
While poor sleep kills, some persons who get excess sleep may increase their risk of stroke. A pointer to the fact that excess of everything is bad, including sleep.
Basically, every human, by age, needs a specific amount of sleep each day.
If you are an adult between the ages of 18 to 60 years, you need 7 or more hours of night sleep.
One of the very interesting things about sleep is that we can form a pattern around it and stick to it.
Those who are used to sleeping for few hours would still not sleep until it is that specific time they recline. Even when you ask them to go to bed early, they will lay in bed not able to sleep.
This happens because they have formed a pattern around their sleep time.
Sleep Patterns That Increase Risk Of Stroke
While meeting the required sleep time is necessary, sleeping for too long is also a trouble.
A 2019 study of an analysis of stroke risk among nearly 32,000 adults with an average age of 62 found that longer hour of sleep could increase risk of stroke (2).
The researchers compared rates of stroke with study subjects’ self-reported sleep habits and recorded the following findings.
- Those who reported sleeping 9 or more hours each night had a 23% higher risk of stroke than those who had less than 8 hours sleep each night.
- Stroke risk was 25% higher among those who took midday naps for at least 90 minutes compared with those napping for less than 30 minutes.
When a person engages in this two sleep patterns – taking the midday naps and then sleeping more than 9 hours at night, the risk increases by 85%.
Poor Sleep Quality And Higher Stroke Risk
Furthermore, the study says people who get poor sleep quality have 82% higher risk of stroke.
So you can have a long time of sleep yet there is low sleep quality. When this happens, you wake up and feel like you have not had enough rest.
What The Study Implies
However, the study did not conclude that more sleep actually causes stroke.
It only found that there is an association between risk of stroke and how long a persons sleeps or takes a midday nap.
Critically examining this report and other studies, it is noticeable that other factors play a role in increasing stroke risk in persons who have a pattern of getting long midday naps and night sleep.
First, sleeping for long hours at night and having long midday naps are all instances of a sedentary lifestyle. it is a lifestyle that further exposes a person to risk of cardiovascular diseases.
People Also Read: Sleep: 4 Easy Techniques That Will Help You Sleep Well
Having that long period of sleep could raise your cholesterol build as a result of inactivity. When this happens, your arteries could clog and then the heart will be in danger (3).
This situation then affects the heart, leading to stroke.
Also, chances are that the person may be suffering from depression.
Basically, excessive sleeping is a symptom of depression which is also linked to higher rates of stroke.
Furthermore, experts say longer sleep duration, naps and poor-quality sleep may be more common among people with sleep apnea.
This condition has also been linked to higher risk of stroke and even death while sleeping.
Kindly share with your friends and loved ones to help them know the dangers of long night sleep and midday naps.