Doctors from the National University of Ireland found that all sleep disorders lead to an increased risk of stroke. The results of the research have been published magazine Neurology.
Among sleep problems, scientists distinguish: too much or too little sleep, long daytime sleepiness, poor quality sleep, snoring and sleep apnea. If a person suffers from five or more problems, the risk of stroke increases. The study included 4496 people, including 2243 stroke survivors. Volunteers filled out a questionnaire in which they talked about the quality of their sleep.
The results showed that people who slept less than five hours were three times more likely to have a stroke than those who slept an average of seven hours. The risk was more than doubled in people who slept more than nine hours. Volunteers who slept more than an hour a day had an 88% greater risk of having a stroke than those who did not sleep.
People who snore were 91% more likely to have a stroke than those who did not snore, and participants with sleep apnea were nearly three times more likely to have a stroke than those without.
“Having five or more of these symptoms can increase the risk of stroke by five times compared to those without sleep problems. We can’t say exactly how sleep problems affect stroke risk. For now, that’s just a rule of thumb. These results suggest that sleep interventions may also reduce stroke risk and are the subject of future research.” thinks it should be.