{"id":14228,"date":"2019-08-26T16:40:55","date_gmt":"2019-08-26T16:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/squad\/?p=14228"},"modified":"2019-08-26T16:40:55","modified_gmt":"2019-08-26T16:40:55","slug":"insomnia-genes-linked-to-health-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/sleep\/insomnia-genes-linked-to-health-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"Insomnia Genes Linked to Health Risks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For men with insomnia, there are two things you need to know: First, there\u2019s a gene that\u2019s linked to insomnia. Second, the gene is linked to a higher risk of both stroke and heart disease.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Insomnia genes and causation<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A 2019 study published in the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Circulation <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">used genetic markers to determine whether a risk factor, such as insomnia, could cause a certain disease. Because genetic markers don\u2019t change during a person\u2019s life, using Mendelian randomization helps researchers determine causation.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the research, scientists used data from 1.3 million people and found 956 genes linked to insomnia. They also looked for links to heart health issues. Comparing the two, they discovered that people with the insomnia genetic variants had:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> a 12% greater chance of developing coronary artery disease<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> a 16% greater chance of developing heart failure<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> a 7% greater chance of having all types of stroke\u2014combined<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> no greater chance of developing atrial fibrillation<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This isn\u2019t the first time scientists have linked heart disease to poor sleep. In 2019, a study published in the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">European Journal of Preventive Cardiology <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">showed that people who had insomnia, stress and high blood pressure combined had a significantly greater risk of death from heart disease.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Fighting insomnia<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even with a genetic link, there\u2019s no guarantee you\u2019ll develop insomnia. Besides, even if you do, there are ways you can combat it, including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Get regular exercise.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time each day.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Avoid stimulants like caffeine and nicotine before bed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Improve your sleeping environment with black-out curtains, a good mattress and pillows.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Avoid consuming alcohol before bed as it can lead to frequent arousals.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Limit naps during the day.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Use your bed for sleep and sex only.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Look for ways to reduce stress.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Try meditation, deep breathing techniques, progressive muscle relaxation or even guided imagery before bed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For men with insomnia, there are two things you need to know: First, there\u2019s a gene that\u2019s linked to insomnia. Second, the gene is linked to a higher risk of both stroke and heart disease. Insomnia genes and causation A 2019 study published in the Circulation used genetic markers to determine whether a risk factor, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[692],"tags":[909,693],"class_list":["post-14228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sleep","tag-insomnia","tag-sleep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}