It turns out, there is an ultimate time to go bed.
In fact, a new study has found that hitting the sack between 10pm and 11pm could result in a lower risk of developing heart disease.
However, those who go to bed later or go to bed earlier than these times had a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
Other study findings
Experts found that compared to those who fell asleep between 10pm and 10.59pm, there was a 12% greater risk for 11pm to 11.59 pm, and a 24% increased risk for falling asleep before 10pm.
Meanwhile, there was a 25% higher risk of cardiovascular disease associated with those falling asleep at midnight or later.
Interestingly, women had a stronger risk than men in the study.
Study author Dr David Plans, of the University of Exeter, said: “The body has a 24-hour internal clock, called circadian rhythm, that helps regulate physical and mental functioning.
“While we cannot conclude causation from our study, the results suggest that early or late bedtimes may be more likely to disrupt the body clock, with adverse consequences for cardiovascular health.”
Researchers factored in the participant’s age, gender, sleep duration, sleep irregularity, being an early bird or a night owl, smoking status, body-mass index, diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and socioeconomic status.
Overall, they found consistent sleeping at or after midnight increased the person’s risk of heart disease.
At the Healthy Mummy, we are all too aware of the importance of a good night’s sleep – a lack of sleep kills our motivation for one…!
Activities to avoid before going to sleep:
Activities to encourage are:
It is important to look at the feng shui of your bedroom. You should also see the bedroom for only two activities, sleeping and lovemaking and certainly have no electronics such as televisions, computers or fax machines anywhere near the bedroom.
Some people sleep with a mobile phone underneath or near their pillow and even the digital clock should be well away from the head.
Electromagnetic radiation can really disrupt sleep. It is always important to consider how comfortable your bed and pillows are. Your sleeping partner can certainly disrupt your sleep if they are snoring, have restless legs, have breathing problems or coughing.
What is happening outside the bedroom is also of importance. Some people live near a main road and they have excessive traffic noise.
There may be noisy animals or noisy neighbours causing sleep disruption. Of course, one of the big sleep killers is young children, especially young infants who can often disrupt a parent’s sleep throughout the evening.
If you’d like to more about how to get your kids to sleep, then click HERE.
5 ways to improve your sleep
Preparation for sleep
The sleeping environment
The five “R’s” of the sleeping environment
Sleep disorders
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