A recent study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that quite modest changes to sleep, exercise and diet could still have a meaningful effect on heart health.
This was reported in the press with the claim that 11 minutes extra sleep could cut heart attacks and strokes by 10 per cent. But this headline is misleading.
The study looked at the effects of more sleep, more exercise and a better diet combined.
To get that 10 per cent reduction from sleep alone, the study found you’d actually need about half an hour extra each night. Furthermore, that 10 per cent doesn’t mean your personal chances of a heart attack drop by 10 per cent.
The study followed 53,000 participants over eight years and, in that time, just over 2,000 cardiovascular ‘events’ were reported. That’s 3.8 per cent of the study population.
