Poor sleep can lead to health conditions

Sleep - the bane of the life of many people. It can lead to frustration, angry moods, lethargy, and make it difficult to concentrate on matters.

A new study has now warned that poor sleepers are more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke. This who struggle to sleep are said to be up to 18% more at risk.

Researchers spent a decade keeping tabs on more than 487,000 people with an average age of 51 who had no history of stroke or heart disease. They were asked if they had any of three insomnia symptoms - trouble falling or staying asleep, waking up too early, or poor focus during the day due to poor sleep.  Participants who had all three turned out to be 18% more likely to have heart disease or a stroke than those with no symptoms. For those with just one symptom the risk was between 7% and 13%.

The study by the Beijing University was published in the journal Neurology. Study Leader Doctor Liming, Li said: "These results suggest if we can target people who are having trouble sleeping with behavioural therapies, it is possible we could reduce cases of Stroke, Heart Attack and other diseases later down the line."  He added "the link between insomnia symptoms and these diseases were even stronger in younger adults and people who did not have high blood pressure at the start of the study, so future research should look especially at early detection and interventions aimed at these groups.