Health warning issued to people who do not have regular bedtime routine

People who do not have regular bed and wake-up times have a higher risk of stroke and heart attack, research suggests.

Irregular sleep patterns increase the risk of such conditions regardless of whether people are getting enough sleep overall, the study found.

Experts examined data for 72,269 people aged 40 to 79 taking part in the UK Biobank study, none of whom had any history of major heart-related events. They wore an activity tracker for seven days to record their sleep, with experts then calculating a Sleep Regularity Index (SRI) score for each person.

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This score captured the day-to-day variability in bedtime, wake-up time, sleep duration and wake-ups during the night, with people given a score ranging from 0 - very irregular - to 100 - perfectly regular sleep-wake pattern.

Everyone in the study was grouped into either an irregular sleep group, moderately irregular sleep group, or regular sleep group. People were followed for eight years, during which time researchers analysed how many suffered conditions such as heart attack, stroke and heart failure.

The study, published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found that, even after taking into account things that could influence the results such as coffee intake and exercise levels, irregular sleepers were 26% more likely to suffer a stroke, heart failure or heart attack than those with regular sleep, while moderately irregular sleepers were 8% more likely to do so.

Researchers also found that the SRI score was a continuous measure, with people’s risk of heart attack and stroke increasing the more irregular their sleeping patterns were. Overall, the recommended