Urgent warning to anyone who snores over ‘increased risk of silent killer’
SNORERS are nearly twice as likely to have a stroke as quiet sleepers, a study shows.
People who keep their partner up at night have a greater risk of the deadly condition, Irish researchers found.
The study of nearly 4,500 older adults looked at whether sleep problems were linked to suffering a stroke.
People who took naps longer than an hour were 88 per cent more likely than those who did not, while snorting at night tripled the risk.
Dr Christine McCarthy, of the University of Galway, said: “With these results, doctors could have earlier conversations with people who are having sleep problems.
“Our results suggest that individual sleep problems may increase a person’s risk of stroke.
“Having more than five of these symptoms may lead to five times the risk of stroke compared to those who do not have any sleep problems.”
Some 100,000 people have a stroke every year in Britain, with 1.3million survivors living in the country.
The killer condition is usually caused by blockages in vessels supplying blood to the brain.
Two in five Brits snore, with one in five not getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep a night.
Previous research has shown getting too little kip can raise your risk of stroke, as well as other conditions including heart disease and dementia.
The latest study, published in Neurology, looked at how specific sleep problems affected stroke risk.
Some 2,243 people who had a stroke were matched to 2,253 who did not suffer the condition.
They were asked about their sleep behaviours including how many hours they got a night, sleep quality, napping, snoring, snorting and breathing problems during sleep.
People who got less than five hours of sleep were three times more likely to have a stroke than those who got seven hours of sleep on average.
Those with sleep apnoea — when breathing stops and starts — were nearly three times more likely to have a stroke than those who did not.
Dr McCarthy said: “Interventions to improve sleep may also reduce the risk of stroke and should be the subject of future research.”