Although every morning you undoubtedly intend to really get into bed on time at night, chances are that you will invariably fail. Just scrolling through Instagram, an extra episode Friends watching, preparing that work meeting for tomorrow, sending that one e-mail or reading one more chapter of that exciting book. We all know how it goes. You probably take that fatigue for granted the next day and solve it with an extra cup of coffee. However, going to sleep too late is not as harmless as you think.
Adverse consequences of going to bed too late
Australian researchers Flinders University collected data from over 12,000 adults from different parts of the world. In this way they came up with a total of more than two million (!) nights of sleep data. To be able to collect the correct data, the researchers placed sensors under the mattresses. The participants’ blood pressure was also monitored.
What seems? An irregular sleep rhythm can cause high blood pressure. The consequences can already be felt if you go to bed just 30 minutes later or earlier than your normal bedtime. The greater the deviation from your normal bedtime, the worse it is for your health. It is therefore especially important to take your rest as regularly as possible. If you only sleep a little earlier or later than normal once, it’s not that bad. The problem is that this can quickly lead to more disruption of your sleep pattern, the researchers warn.
Overweight
Even if you are already overweight, it is dangerous to sleep irregularly. Regularly going to bed more than thirty minutes later or earlier leads to a third more risk of high blood pressure. And high blood pressure can be especially dangerous for people who are overweight or even obese. This increases the risk of having a stroke, heart attack, heart failure and arteriosclerosis.
Bad sleeping habits
Previous sleep research has already shown that both a lack of sleep (less than six hours per night) and sleeping too long (more than nine hours) have a negative effect on blood circulation. These conclusions are once again confirmed in this study. But… do you sleep nicely for seven to nine hours a night, only do you go to bed at 00:00 one evening and are you already in your nest at 21:30 the next day? Then you are still not healthy. “Our study shows that irregular sleep can have the same negative health effects in adults, even if they manage to get seven to nine hours of sleep per night,” said researcher Bastien Lechat. Sciences.
In short: bad sleeping habits increase the risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease and elevated blood pressure. So instead of only setting an alarm in the morning, you should also set an alarm in the evening. And that series? You can also watch it tomorrow, really!
