More sleep resulting from stay-at-home orders may lower acute MI risk
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Increased sleeping duration, as a result of stay-at-home orders, may have contributed to the decline in acute MI and cardiac catheterization lab activations observed by hospitals nationwide, researchers reported.
According to a study published in The American Journal of Cardiology, males who were sleeping about 6 hours, 40 minutes each night before the pandemic reported sleeping up to 7 hours, 30 minutes in the setting of stay-at-home orders.
“We were surprised to find that people were reporting sleeping longer, since we had thought that sleep quality would have been reduced by the COVID pandemic due to increased anxiety and depression and increased alcohol consumption, all of which adversely affect sleep quality,” Laura E. Crotty Alexander, MD, associate professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary critical care and sleep at the University of California, San Diego, told Healio. “It made sense to us that people are getting up later in the morning, as people don’t need to factor in commuting, dropping off kids at day care/school, or even showering and getting dressed up. And this later awakening is leading to longer hours of actual sleep per day.”
Investigators conducted social media surveys on Twitter, Facebook, Craigslist and Reddit in which 131 participants (56% female; aged 14-64 years) provided data on their sleep patterns, tobacco consumption, anxiety and depression. They hypothesized that sleep schedule alterations because of stay-at-home orders may be an underlying mechanism for improvement in risk for acute MI.
Surveys indicated that the participants’ mean bedtime was delayed from 11:30 p.m. to 12:11 a.m. (41 minutes; P < .0001) and mean awakening was delayed from 7 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. (105 minutes; P < .0001), resulting in a sleep duration increase of 11% (44 minutes; P < .0001).
These findings were only consistent for participants who reported they were not current smokers or e-cigarette users (P < .0001).
“It is most likely that patients are so fearful of going to the hospital, or even a clinic, that they are ignoring symptoms caused by myocardial ischemia, thus the reduced numbers of MIs being reported by hospitals and cath labs,” Crotty Alexander said in an interview. “However, some changes in work patterns and lifestyle are leading to healthier sleep patterns, which may lead to improvements in cardiovascular health in the long run.
“Sleep is important. It impacts our physical and mental health to a great degree,” Crotty Alexander told Healio. “If people are getting more sleep, and better sleep quality due to life and work changes, we should be thoughtful and consider changes to how businesses run to promote healthy lifestyle changes.”
Sleep duration changes in males, females
In other findings, females reported more sleep latency during the pandemic (28 minutes vs. 21 minutes) compared with the period before the pandemic, but males (50 minutes) and females (34 minutes) experienced greater sleep duration.
According to the study, the increase for males was greater due to the average male’s reported sleep duration being 6 hours, 40 minutes before to the pandemic, increasing to 7 hours, 30 minutes during the pandemic, whereas females reported sleeping an average of 6 hours, 54 minutes before the pandemic.
‘Quarantine 15’ and other risk factors
“We did not assess other cardiometabolic risk factors such as lipids or body weight, but do not believe these improved during the pandemic,” the researchers wrote. “In fact, many have referred to the ‘COVID 10’ or ‘Quarantine 15’ to reflect the increase in body weight that many experienced during the stay-at-home orders. Despite these limitations we view our findings are potentially important and worthy of further mechanistic research.
“We would advocate for using this global crisis to improve work and sleep habits of the general population, which may lead to overall health benefits for our society,” the researchers wrote.
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