Can’t Sleep? You May be Boosting Your Heart Attack Risk

A shortage of nightly Z’s has been linked to depression and weight gain, and now a new study has found that insomnia may also increase the risk of heart attacks.

Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology tracked 52,610 men and women who enrolled in a national health survey between 1995 and 1997. During the 11-year follow-up period, 2,386 of the participants had a myocardial infarction (heart attack). After adjusting for heart attack risk factors—age, sex, marital status, education, shift work, blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, body mass index, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption—researchers found that the study participants who reported that they had insomnia had more heart attacks than those who got regular shuteye.

In particular:

• Participants who had trouble falling asleep most nights had a 45 percent higher risk for heart attacks
• Participants who had trouble staying asleep most nights had a 30 percent higher risk
• Participants who woke up feeling unrefreshed more than once a week had a 27 percent higher risk

The study, which was published in the October 2011 issue of the journal Circulation, was also the subject of an editorial in the same issue.

“Although sleep disturbances have not been identified as specific targets in current cardiovascular prevention guidelines, research over the last decade provides increasing evidence that poor sleep and sleep disorders significantly contribute to the development of heart disease,” wrote Susan Redline, MD, and JoAnne Foody, MD, in the editorial “Sleep Disturbances: Time to Join the Top 10 Potentially Modifiable Cardiovascular Risk Factors?”

The Norwegian study “provides further evidence supporting the importance of sleep disorders in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease,” they added. “Furthermore, because of their prevalence, sleep disturbances ranging from sleep apnea to sleep curtailment may serve as important novel targets for cardiovascular disease risk reduction.”

Read about how to prevent Insomnia & Sleep-wake Cycle Disorder

Welcome

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September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

Prostate cancer (PC) is the most diagnosed form of cancer in American men. Each year there are roughly 200,000 men that are diagnosed with PC and over 30,000 will die from it. In many respects, PC is the mirror of breast cancer in women. It is a hormone-sensitive cancer that will affect at least one out of every six men now living in the United States.

Most PCs are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive PCs. The cancer cells may metastasize (spread) from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly the bones and lymph nodes. Next to lung cancer, in men PC is the second leading cause of death due to cancer.

The big push conventional medical circles will make this month is encouraging men over the age of 50 years to see a physician for two tests:

A digital rectal exam–the doctor inserts a lubricated, gloved finger into the rectum and feels the prostate through the rectal wall to check for hard or lumpy areas.
A blood test for prostate-specific antigen (PSA)- which will usually be elevated in men with PC. A normal PSA ranges from 0 to 4 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml). A PSA level of 4 to 10 ng/ml is considered slightly elevated; levels between 10 and 20 ng/ml are considered moderately elevated; and anything above that is considered highly elevated. The higher the PSA level, the more likely it is that cancer is present. However, approximately 35% of men with diagnosed PC will have a “normal” PSA of less than 4. The level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood tends to rise with PC, but minor elevations may be due to less serious conditions like prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) (enlargement of the prostate).

However, recently there has been a bit of controversy regarding the fact that screening for prostate cancer has led to harming many more men compared to the number that have died from prostate cancer. Many doctors will state that the rationale for early detection of prostate cancer is that it leads to more effective treatment. Unfortunately, the data on PSA screening for PC does not support this notion. Several reviews on the impact of PSA screening show no statistically significant difference in death due to PC between men randomized to screening and those who were not screened.In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force believe that PSA screening produces more harm than good based upon very extensive analyses.

Harmful effects of screening included high rates of false-positive results for the PSA test resulting in over-diagnosis and the adverse events associated not only with biopsies (such as infection, bleeding and pain), but also in the treatment of PC with chemotherapy and radiation. It is believed that in most cases, the PC would not have seriously affected many lives if it had simply been left alone. Most PCs are extremely slow growing meaning that men can live with PC, rather than die from it. In fact, autopsy studies report that more than 30% of all men over the age 50 have evidence of PC, but only 3% will die from it.

My feeling is that the problem with early screening is not the screening; it is what happens after the screening that is the issue. In the case of PSA screening, the approach should be “watchful waiting” versus immediate biopsy unless accompanied by significant recent increase in PSA levels, family history, or in African-Americans. And, if the biopsy is positive, even then a conservative approach should be taken with the majority of men. Now, that does not mean that I advocate idleness with “watchful waiting.” In fact, I recommend just the opposite; focus aggressively on the preventive measures against PC detailed here: https://doctormurray.com/health-conditions/prostate-cancer-prevention/.

For more information, please see the completely revised and updated 3^rd edition of The Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine.

On the Dr Oz show

On the show I discussed the failure of conventional medicine to address the underlying issues in many health conditions offering little more than drugs as biochemical “band aids.”

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