Toss and turn at night? Disrupted sleep linked to increased risk of death, study finds

People twitch and move around in response to noises, temperature changes or light when snoozing away. It’s not uncommon to see people twitch and move around in response to noises, temperature changes or light when snoozing away; it’s a normal part of sleep called unconscious wakefulness that most aren’t aware of or recall when the sun rises. In some cases, these sleep disruptions can cause people to feel exhausted in the morning or even lead to serious health problems if they happen consistently enough over time. Now, a new study of 8,000 people has, for the first time, found a “clear link” between the frequency and duration of these unconscious episodes and an increased risk of dying from any cause and of heart disease, especially in women. Compared to women without sleep issues, women who experience unconscious wakefulness during the night had nearly double the risk of dying from heart disease in the six to 11 years of the study’s follow-up period. Men, on the other hand, faced a risk of death from cardiovascular illness that was just more than a quarter compared to men with no sleep disruptions. The researchers say their study highlights the importance of detecting and assessing…
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