Study using the American Heart Association framework provides evidence that sleep is integral to preserving heart health.
Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health evaluated an expanded measure of cardiovascular health (CVH) that includes sleep as an eighth metric, in relation to cardiovascular disease risk. This represents the first examination of adding sleep to the American Heart Association’s original Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) metrics as a novel eighth metric of CVH. The study is published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
The study sample consisted of ~2000 middle-aged to older adults from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), an ongoing U.S. study of CVD and CVD risk factors, who participated in a sleep exam and provided comprehensive data on their sleep characteristics.
The research evaluated multiple expanded cardiovascular health scores –including the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7 (LS7) metrics — plus different sleep health measures, to evaluate which sleep parameters should be prioritized for CVD prevention. This study is the first to show that sleep metrics add independent predictive value for CVD events over and above the original 7 CVH metrics.
Importantly, cardiovascular health scores that included sleep duration only as a measure of overall sleep health as well as cardiovascular health scores that included multiple dimensions of sleep health (i.e. sleep duration, efficiency, and regularity, daytime sleepiness, and sleep disorders) were both predictive of future CVD. For the sleep duration metric, sleeping 7 hours or more but less than 9 hours each night was considered indicative of ideal sleep health.
Health Secrets of a SuperAger 
Do you have any recommendations for when your wife has Parkinson’s? Because a fundamental issue of the disease is poor sleep. Jean most nights wakens at 3am to 3:30am and needs to get up. Even though we go to bed around 8:30pm we very rarely get 7 hours of sleep. I don’t want to sleep in separate rooms.
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I don’t, Paul. To me sleep is like the 8th wonder of the world. Very important, but hard to really grasp or understand. I have a problem with it,too.
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I rather guessed you would reply in that way. Let me leave it for now but with a further comment to say ‘thank you’ and wish you all the best.
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Ironically, sleep while essential to our good health, is the opposite of exercise. In exercise we exert ourselves and push our limits physically, while to achieve sleep we have to do exactly the opposite and let ourselves relax. Here is a link for a ‘relaxation tape’ that I use. https://nathanielbranden.com/product/basic-relaxation-ego-strengthening-mp3/
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I would recommend a person who has Parkinson Disease and has been a researcher at Leeds University. Check out Gary Sharpe’s post on WordPress. He has shared some wonderful insight on PD and has himself regained his mobility as well as other improvements.
If you can’t locate him, let me know, and I’ll see if I can find his web link.
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I will look up Gary immediately after saying thank you to you!
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And he has his own website -http://www.outthinkingparkinsons.com
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He has shared some amazing insights. He questions much of the research or lack of proper research into PD.
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Thanks for the info, Jasper.
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That looks like a great ‘tape’!
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I use it for my naps during the day.
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Now you opened up a whole new subject; day time naps! Do you find they make a difference, I mean a real difference? And does the relaxation tape also make a positive difference?
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I don’t know for sure.I know that I enjoy the nap and the tape puts me down really nicely. One of my problems getting to sleep is emptying my brain. The tape does that. Don’t forget, I am 82. When my body says ‘rest’ I do. I think the nap does make a difference.
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Well I am not far behind you; I’m 78 in just about two weeks time. But I haven’t yet learnt to read my body regarding day time naps. However I take what you say seriously and will explore getting that tape. Thanks!
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Jasper, yes, it is a very useful website.
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