Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading contributor of death around the world and this World Heart Day the focus is on prevention and the introduction and enforcing of a HEART ACTION PLAN!

There are several conditions and lifestyle factors which affect your heart – with the most notable or well-known being diabetes, high cholesterol, inactivity, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, and smoking. However, there are other risk factors you may not be aware of.

Eating patterns and cardiovascular health

Diet and certain foods have been linked to cardiovascular health and can contribute to heart diseases which is shown to cause 7.9million cardiovascular disease (CVD) related deaths every year. Research is emerging showing that it isn’t just what you eat, but when you eat.

Studies are showing correlations between late-night eating and cardiovascular risk factors such as arterial stiffness. Having a nighttime fasting period of around 12 hours has been associated with an improvement in several main indicators of cardiovascular health. Studies found a definite relationships between the interval between evening meal and when you go to bed.

Every hour morning meals are delayed has shown to be linked with an elevated risk of overall CVD; and for each hour you delay your evening meal there was an 8% increase risk of cerebrovascular disease. The difference between eating your last meal of the day before 8:00pm to after 9:00pm had a 28% increased risk of cerebrovascular disease.

Sleep and cardiovascular risk factors

Inadequate sleep quality and quantity is shown to be correlated with cardiovascular risk factor atherosclerosis, as well as the incident of cardiovascular disease and CVD-related mortality. Studies have shown that abnormal sleep, and mainly sleep duration was linked with subclinical atherosclerosis.

A 2023 study found that participants who had an irregular sleep duration of >120 minutes were more likely to have carotid plaque and were 1.4 times more likely to have a high coronary artery calcium compared to individuals with regular sleep durations of ≤60 minutes (sleep duration was estimated as the sum of the minutes classified as sleep during the main sleep period).

Sleep timing was assessed as the time of the first epoch classified as sleep during the main sleep period. Those with irregular sleep timing of >90 minutes were 1.43 times more likely to have elevated coronary artery calcium compared to participants with regular sleep timing of ≤30 minutes. It is posited that irregular sleep patterns can cause circadian disruption, with all the main cardiovascular functions (heart rate, blood pressure, vascular tone and endothelial functions) are regulated by your circadian clock. The constant disturbance to your circadian rhythm can disrupt these vital cardiovascular functions, which can result in inflammation over time.

Thyroid dysfunction

Hyperthyroidism and elevated actions of the thyroid hormones causes a hyperdynamic cardiovascular condition and leads to a higher incidence of atrial fibrillation. Clear and subclinical hyperthyroidism is shown to be associated with an increased risk of arterial thrombosis and mortality, at least partly facilitated by the cardiovascular risk factor atherosclerosis. To read more about the thyroid and its link to the heart and thrombosis visit our webage.

Please visit our PBI webpages to read information about CVD and thrombosis as well additional CVD - risk factors.

There are so many influencing factors causing poor cardiovascular health, however there are also many ways to help you take care of your heart. Working with your GP is a great way to develop an ACTION PLAN and keep your heart healthy.

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References

• Palomar-Cros, A., Andreeva, V. A., Fezeu, L. K., Julia, C., Bellicha, A., Kesse-Guyot, E., Hercberg, S., Romaguera, D., Kogevinas, M., Touvier, M., & Srour, B. (2023). Dietary circadian rhythms and cardiovascular disease risk in the prospective NutriNet-Santé cohort. Nature Communications, 14(1), 7899–7899. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43444-3
• Full, K. M., Huang, T., Shah, N. A., Allison, M. A., Michos, E. D., Duprez, D. A., Redline, S., & Lutsey, P. L. (2023). Sleep irregularity and subclinical markers of cardiovascular disease: The multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Journal of the American Heart Association, 12(4), e027361–e027361. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.122.027361