Skimping on Sleep Is Bad for the Heart: U.S. Study

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Just one extra hour of sleep a day appears to lower the risk of developing calcium deposits in the arteries, a precursor to heart disease, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday
(ABC News Photo Illustration)

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Just one extra hour of sleep a day appears to lower the risk of developing calcium deposits in the arteries, a precursor to heart disease, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
The finding adds to a growing list of health consequences -- including weight gain, diabetes, high blood pressure -- linked to getting too little sleep.
"We found that people who on average slept longer were at reduced risk of developing new coronary artery calcifications over five years," said Diane Lauderdale of the University of Chicago Medical Center, whose study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"It was surprisingly strong," Lauderdale said in a telephone interview.
Calcium deposits in the coronary arteries are considered a precursor of future heart disease. "It's a very early marker of future risk," she said.