Sleeping eight to nine hours per night, combined with with simple healthy lifestyle choices, can reduce the risk of heart attack by more than 50 per cent, a study has found.
The new research suggests getting a good amount of sleep, as well as 42 minutes daily of moderate to vigorous exercise and eating a modest diet, can cut risks significantly. Even just an extra 11 minutes of sleep per night, combined with four and a half minutes of brisk walking and a quarter cup of vegetables daily can reduce the risk of cardiovascular events by 10 per cent.
Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity can include everyday tasks such as taking the stairs, carrying shopping bags, or walking briskly.
Researchers looked at sleep habits and exercise patterns through data on technology such as smartwatches, while diet was assessed using a single food frequency questionnaire which allowed the researchers to calculate a diet quality score.
A better quality diet involved a higher intake of vegetables, fruits, fish, dairy, whole grains, and vegetable oils and a lower intake of refined grains, processed meats, unprocessed red meat, and sugar-sweetened beverages.
The study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, was conducted by experts from Australia, Chile and Brazil, who examined data on more than 53,000 middle-aged UK adults taking part in the Biobank study.
Dr Nicholas Koemel, lead author and research fellow at the University of Sydney, said: “We show that combining small changes in a few areas of our lives can have a surprisingly large positive impact on our cardiovascular health. This is very encouraging news because making a few small, combined changes is likely more achievable and sustainable for most people when compared with attempting major changes in a single behaviour.
“Making even modest shifts in our daily routines is likely to have cardiovascular benefits as well as create opportunities for further changes in the long run. I would encourage people not to overlook the importance of making a small change or two to your daily routine, no matter how small they may seem.”
Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, senior author of the study, said: “We plan to build on these findings to develop new digital tools that support people in making positive lifestyle changes and establish sustained healthy habits.
“This will involve working closely with community members to make sure the tools are easy to use and can address the barriers we all face in making tweaks to our day-to-day routines.”
The researchers used data from a sub-study of UK Biobank, a cohort study of 502,629 adults aged 40-69 who were recruited from 2006 to 2010.
The paper notes that, as an observational study, the research cannot establish a definitive causal relationship between the lifestyle behaviours and cardiovascular risk. The researchers suggest that intervention trials are now needed to fully confirm the findings.
