Sleep Deprivation and Stroke Risk

This article discusses research presented at the Sleep Meeting in Boston. Researchers discovered that patients who slept less than six hours, per their own self-report, were more likely to have stroke symptoms than those that slept longer. This increased risk occurred despite being normal weight and researchers controlled for other factors associated such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and sleep apnea. The effect was greatest in African Americans, which could explain how this racial group is more prone to having stroke than other races.