Professor explains exactly how quickly poor sleep damages your heart

A professor has explained how disrupted sleep is bad for your heart,m and says damage will start after just three nights. In a new study from Uppsala University in Sweden, researchers found

that just three nights of restricted sleep triggered changes in the blood linked to a higher risk of heart disease. The researchers looked at inflammatory proteins in the blood. These are

molecules the body produces when it is under stress or fighting off illness. When these proteins stay high for a long time, they can damage blood vessels and raise the risk of problems like

heart failure, coronary heart disease and irregular heartbeat. Annie Curtis, professor at the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences (PBS) at RCSI University of Medicine and Health

Sciences, said: "Researchers measured almost 90 different proteins in the blood samples. They found that sleep deprivation caused a clear rise in inflammatory markers linked to heart

disease." She told The Conversation : "Strikingly, the changes happened even in young, healthy adults, and after only a few nights of bad sleep. That’s worrying given how common it

is for adults to experience poor sleep from time to time – and around one in four people work shifts that disrupt sleep patterns. "The researchers also discovered that the time of day

blood was taken mattered: protein levels varied between morning and evening, and even more so when sleep was restricted. This suggests that sleep affects not only what’s in your blood, but

when those changes are most visible. "Although modern life often encourages us to trade sleep for productivity, socialising or screen time, studies like this remind us that the body

keeps score – quietly, chemically and without compromise."