Good Sleep Onset Timing Can Lower Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. That includes myocardial infarction, heart failure, chronic ischemic heart disease, and stroke. Studies have found that falling asleep during a specific period is associated with a lower risk of CVD. A study in the UK showed there is a U-shaped relationship (first decreasing and then increasing, or vice versa) between daily sleep time and CVD risk. Participants who went to bed between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. had a lower risk of heart disease than those who went to bed either earlier or later. This phenomenon was more pronounced in women. The paper was published in a 2021 edition of the European Heart Journal. Sleep Onset Timing and CVD Risk The research team analyzed data from 88,026 people aged 43 to 79 without CVD, with 51,214 (57.9 percent) women and 36,812 (41.6 percent) men. Participants used a wrist-worn accelerometer to record data on when they fell asleep and when they woke up during normal life for seven days. The results found that 3,172 participants (3.6 percent) developed CVD disease during an average follow-up period of about 5.7 years. Among participants who fell asleep at different times, those who fell asleep at or after midnight had the highest risk of CVD, followed by those before 10 p.m. And those who fell asleep between 11 p.m. and 11:59 p.m., and those between 10 p.m. and 10:59 p.m. had the lowest risk of CVD. The results of the experiment also showed a more distinct association between the time of falling asleep and the risk of CVD in women. The research team then adjusted for factors such as sleep duration and sleep irregularity and found that the time of falling asleep was still associated with CVD risk. In addition, the researchers found that the overall association between sleep onset time and CVD risk still holds after adjustment for important CVD risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, body mass index, and smoking. Best Sleep Onset Timing at Midnight Unlike western medicine, which interprets from the perspectives of all aspects visible to the naked eye, such as nerves and endocrine, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) believes that “man and nature are one integrated entity,” and that heaven, earth, and the human body are unified and function in cohesion. The theory of yin and yang in the basic theory of TCM believes that all things or phenomena in nature have two corresponding characteristics of “yin” and “yang.” They are opposite in nature, but they are also mutually interdependent and intrinsically indispensable. TCM believes that normal sleep is the result of the harmony and coordination of yin and yang in the human body. Yang dominates awakening and yin dominates sleep. From the perspective of TCM, Zishi (11 p.m. to 1 a.m.) is the time when the yin energy is the strongest. Therefore, people should follow the law of the growth and decline of both yin and yang in the universe, and it is best to be in a deep sleep state during Zishi. This is also consistent with Western science’s understanding of the circadian rhythm. TCM believes that qi is the “energy” or “vitality” that constitutes life within the body, and they generally refer to the substances that replenish nutrients in the body as blood. Qi and blood are interdependent, flow throughout the whole body, nourish the organs and tissues, and maintain the vital activities of the human body. TCM has also discovered that the human body has a “meridian” system that is responsible for transporting “qi” and “blood” throughout the body. There are 12 main meridians that follow specific timing and paths. The 12 hours period (shichen) of a day (one hour is two hours a day) corresponds to the 12 main meridians of the human body. In each hour, the qi and blood on the corresponding meridian will be particularly affluent, and the viscera governed by the corresponding meridian is also more active. Dr. Yang Jingduan, the founder and medical director of the Yang Institute of Integrative Medicine in Pennsylvania, said that Zishi (11 p.m. to 1 a.m.) is the rule of the gallbladder meridian. Choushi (1 a.m. to 3 a.m.) belongs to the liver. During these two periods, the energy of the human body is concentrated in the liver, gallbladder, and meridian system. The liver and gallbladder mainly regulate the digestion, endocrine, heart rate, emotion, brain, and detoxification of the whole body.
Udumbara
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. That includes myocardial infarction, heart failure, chronic ischemic heart disease, and stroke. Studies have found that falling asleep during a specific period is associated with a lower risk of CVD.
A study in the UK showed there is a U-shaped relationship (first decreasing and then increasing, or vice versa) between daily sleep time and CVD risk. Participants who went to bed between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. had a lower risk of heart disease than those who went to bed either earlier or later. This phenomenon was more pronounced in women. The paper was published in a 2021 edition of the European Heart Journal.
Sleep Onset Timing and CVD Risk
The research team analyzed data from 88,026 people aged 43 to 79 without CVD, with 51,214 (57.9 percent) women and 36,812 (41.6 percent) men. Participants used a wrist-worn accelerometer to record data on when they fell asleep and when they woke up during normal life for seven days. The results found that 3,172 participants (3.6 percent) developed CVD disease during an average follow-up period of about 5.7 years.
Among participants who fell asleep at different times, those who fell asleep at or after midnight had the highest risk of CVD, followed by those before 10 p.m. And those who fell asleep between 11 p.m. and 11:59 p.m., and those between 10 p.m. and 10:59 p.m. had the lowest risk of CVD.
The results of the experiment also showed a more distinct association between the time of falling asleep and the risk of CVD in women.
The research team then adjusted for factors such as sleep duration and sleep irregularity and found that the time of falling asleep was still associated with CVD risk. In addition, the researchers found that the overall association between sleep onset time and CVD risk still holds after adjustment for important CVD risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, body mass index, and smoking.
Best Sleep Onset Timing at Midnight
Unlike western medicine, which interprets from the perspectives of all aspects visible to the naked eye, such as nerves and endocrine, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) believes that “man and nature are one integrated entity,” and that heaven, earth, and the human body are unified and function in cohesion. The theory of yin and yang in the basic theory of TCM believes that all things or phenomena in nature have two corresponding characteristics of “yin” and “yang.” They are opposite in nature, but they are also mutually interdependent and intrinsically indispensable.
TCM believes that normal sleep is the result of the harmony and coordination of yin and yang in the human body. Yang dominates awakening and yin dominates sleep. From the perspective of TCM, Zishi (11 p.m. to 1 a.m.) is the time when the yin energy is the strongest. Therefore, people should follow the law of the growth and decline of both yin and yang in the universe, and it is best to be in a deep sleep state during Zishi. This is also consistent with Western science’s understanding of the circadian rhythm.
TCM believes that qi is the “energy” or “vitality” that constitutes life within the body, and they generally refer to the substances that replenish nutrients in the body as blood. Qi and blood are interdependent, flow throughout the whole body, nourish the organs and tissues, and maintain the vital activities of the human body.
TCM has also discovered that the human body has a “meridian” system that is responsible for transporting “qi” and “blood” throughout the body. There are 12 main meridians that follow specific timing and paths. The 12 hours period (shichen) of a day (one hour is two hours a day) corresponds to the 12 main meridians of the human body. In each hour, the qi and blood on the corresponding meridian will be particularly affluent, and the viscera governed by the corresponding meridian is also more active.
Dr. Yang Jingduan, the founder and medical director of the Yang Institute of Integrative Medicine in Pennsylvania, said that Zishi (11 p.m. to 1 a.m.) is the rule of the gallbladder meridian. Choushi (1 a.m. to 3 a.m.) belongs to the liver. During these two periods, the energy of the human body is concentrated in the liver, gallbladder, and meridian system. The liver and gallbladder mainly regulate the digestion, endocrine, heart rate, emotion, brain, and detoxification of the whole body.
