At times, sleep can seem like a bit of a bother. It’s frequently the first thing people sacrifice when there aren’t enough hours in the day. However, increasing evidence indicates that not getting sufficient sleep doesn’t merely leave you fatigued in the morning. In the long run, it might pose a threat to your heart.

A new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association contributes to this research by tracking around a million U.S. veterans over a couple of decades, investigating whether those with both insomnia and sleep apnea, a condition where breathing is interrupted during sleep, faced a higher risk of heart issues.

Indeed, compared to individuals without sleep disorders, they had more than twice the risk of developing high blood pressure and more than four times the risk of developing heart disease. Although the study can’t determine the reason for these correlations, the results further support the idea that sleep plays a role in maintaining our long – term health.

Dangerous disruptions

This study utilizes a vast database of medical records of post – 9/11 U.S. veterans who receive healthcare through the Department of Veteran Affairs, or VA. This data was promising for exploring the link between sleep disorders and the heart, says Allison Gaffey, a clinical health psychologist at the Yale School of Medicine and an author of the new paper. “We know that veterans have a higher prevalence of sleep disorders” than the general population, she says. “This is caused by various factors, including stress related to deployment, irregular sleep schedules, psychiatric comorbidities such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety, as well as physical injuries and chronic pain.” Moreover, veterans also have a higher incidence of heart disease, raising the question of whether addressing the sleep problems could reduce those numbers.

When the researchers conducted their analysis, they were astonished by how strong the connection was between heart problems and sleep disorders. The study group was relatively young; over 40% were 39 years old or younger when they enrolled in the VA’s services. And both men and women with the sleep disorders were equally likely to experience a rise in heart risk.

“We tend to think that cardiovascular disease occurs later in life, and we don’t need to consider heart health and prevention until that stage,” Gaffey says. “However, the foundation for our cardiovascular health actually starts much earlier than we realize, and these findings suggest that sleep disruption can affect cardiovascular risk much earlier than we typically assume.”

Getting to the root of the problem

The results are in line with what other studies have found, says Peter Catcheside, a sleep and respiratory physiologist at Flinders University in Australia who wasn’t involved in the work. The research also brings up the question of how to treat the two sleep disorders.

The standard treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is using a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, machine while sleeping. For insomnia, it’s a form of cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT – I, which helps regulate sleep. Neither treatment is straightforward. Would it be better to treat one first?

“Deciding which one to treat first is quite complex,” says Catcheside, who co – authored ; however, that study found that providing CBT – I first before moving on to CPAP was more effective than the reverse. Catcheside emphasizes that understanding the underlying cause of each disorder in an individual can make a significant difference in improving their health. For example, some people with sleep apnea might also be diagnosed with insomnia. But a closer examination could show that it’s the apnea that keeps waking them up and makes it difficult to reach deeper sleep stages, and if the apnea is treated, the insomnia goes away.

Figuring out why someone isn’t sleeping well, as complex as it may be, could yield real benefits, Gaffey says: “Sleep isn’t just about feeling tired. It’s truly about your long – term cardiovascular future… it’s an active, restorative biological process, and chronic sleep disruption has measurable consequences down the line.”

She hopes that future research will explore more deeply whether treating these disorders early can change the cardiovascular health outlook for both veterans and civilians. “A key message is this: Don’t accept persistent sleep problems as normal,” she says. If you have a lot of trouble falling asleep or staying asleep several nights a week, and if you’re often tired during the day, seek help. You might end up improving your life.