Going to bed between 10pm-11pm optimal for heart health, study suggests

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People who regularly go to bed between 10pm and 11pm are less likely to develop heart or circulatory diseases, a study has shown.
Researchers found that people who regularly went to sleep later or earlier than this “ideal” window were more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, even when sleep duration or sleep irregularity were taken into consideration.
The research, published in the European Heart Journal – Digital Health, involved looking at the sleep onset and waking up times of more than 88,026 people, collected from wearable devices over a period of seven days.
After an average follow-up period of almost six years, a total of 3,172 cases of cardiovascular disease (CVD) were reported (3.6% of participants). Most of these involved people who fell asleep outside of the 10pm to 11pm window.
People who fell asleep after midnight had a 25% higher risk of developing heart or circulatory disease. Those who fell asleep between 11:00 and 11:59pm had a 12% higher risk, while those who fell asleep before 10pm saw their risk increase by 24%.

The association between sleep onset time and increased risk of cardiovascular disease was stronger in females, but men only saw their risk increase when they fell asleep before 10pm.
Dr David Plans from the University of Exeter said: “The body has a 24-hour internal clock, called circadian rhythm, that helps regulate physical and mental functioning.
“Our study indicates that the optimum time to