Sleep may be just as important to heart health as diet and physical activity, research finds

The research, from scientists at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, shows that the cardiovascular health guidelines are more effective at predicting a person’s risk of heart disease if they include sleep.

The researchers looked at sleep records from 2,000 middle-age or older adults in an ongoing US study of cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular disease risk factors called the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, or MESA.

The participants took part in detailed sleep research. They filled out sleep surveys, wore a device that measured their sleep for seven days and did an overnight study in which scientists could observe the way they slept.

Poor sleep habits “are ubiquitous” among Americans, the study says, including among the study participants. About 63% of them were found to sleep less than seven hours a night, and 30% slept less than six hours. Optimum sleep duration for an adult is between seven and nine hours a night, according to the CDC.

People who slept less than seven hours a night had a higher chance of “low sleep efficiency,” irregular sleep patterns, excessive daytime sleepiness and sleep apnea …