Around 70% of heart attacks and strokes could be prevented if everybody got a good night’s sleep, research shows.
Scientists followed 7,200 healthy over-50s for a decade, and found just 10 per cent regularly got a decent kip.
Compared to the worst sleepers, those who were well rested were 75 per cent less likely to suffer heart disease or stroke.
The experts concluded that if all adults slept properly then potentially deadly cardiac events would drop 72 per cent.
Each year around 100,000 Brits are killed by cardiac disease and strokes.
People in the polypill group were 17 per cent more likely to adhere to their medication schedule after two years.
Speaking at the European Society of Cardiology’s annual congress in Barcelona, lead scientist Dr Aboubakari Nambiema, from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, said: “Our study illustrates the potential for sleeping well to preserve heart health and suggests that improving sleep is linked with lower risks of coronary heart disease and stroke.”
Experts believe a lack of sleep triggers the body’s “stress responses” which leads to inflammation and higher blood pressure.
The French researchers scored volunteers out of five for their sleeping habits including having seven to eight hours of shut-eye per night.
After eight years of follow-ups, 274 of the 7,200 participants had a heart attack or stroke. Risk fell by about 20 per cent with each extra point in the sleep score.
Professor James Leiper, director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “A good night’s sleep allows your body to rest, which relaxes your blood vessels, in turn reducing your blood pressure.”
