A new study has suggested that lack of sleep can increase your risk of heart attack, stroke and other heart and brain diseases. The study — which included 487,200 people in China, average age 51 with no history of heart disease. They were asked if they had any of these issues three or more times a week: trouble falling asleep or staying asleep; waking up too early; or trouble staying focused during the day due to poor sleep. 11% said that they had trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, 10% reportedly waking up too early and 2% struggled to stay focused during the day. During an average 10-year follow-up, there were just over 130,000 cases of stroke, heart attack and similar diseases. Compared to those with no insomnia symptoms, people with all three were 18% more likely to develop these diseases.
