Scientists Say These 2 Habits Are Crucial for Lowering Heart Disease Risk

Heart disease is the leading cause of death and disability in the U.S., and as the risk of developing cardiovascular disease goes up with age, older adults need to be particularly cautious. And although heart disease can be caused by a slew of factors, managing your risk may be simpler than you’d think. According to a new study published in Nature, a pair of simple lifestyle changes, when used in combination, can help lower heart disease risk for older adults: getting good sleep and regular exercise.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 83,000 people who participated in the UK Biobank, a long-running health database, along with 8,404 people who participated in the All of Us database, which is managed by the National Institutes of Health; they also looked at mouse models. The analysis revealed that healthy sleep habits and regular exercise can combat a condition known as clonal hematopoiesis—detectable in about 25% of people over 70 and half of people over 80—which causes inflammation and irritation in the body, and is linked to developing atherosclerosis, a buildup of plaque in the body that can lead to a heart attack or stroke.

It seems that getting regular sleep and exercise may cause immune cells with clonal hematopoiesis mutations to behave normally, which can decrease the risk of developing heart disease.

Meet the experts: Cameron McAlpine, Ph.D., study co-author and a principal investigator in the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Christopher Winter, M.D., a sleep medicine specialist, neurologist, and author of The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How to Fix It; Kevin Shah, M.D., cardiologist and program director of Heart Failure Outreach at MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute at Long Beach Medical Center.

“We have known for a while that spontaneous mutations that occur in white blood cells, called clonal hematopoiesis, increase your risk of developing cardiovascular disease,” says Cameron McAlpine, Ph.D., study co-author and a principal investigator in the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “But it was unknown if a healthy lifestyle, including sufficient sleep and exercise, could improve cardiovascular disease driven by clonal hematopoiesis mutations.”

What’s behind this link, and what counts as “sufficient” sleep and exercise? Below, experts break it down.

Why can regular sleep and exercise lower your heart disease risk?

There are likely a few reasons for this. “Exercise and sleep reduce inflammation—a key driver of cardiovascular disease. Clonal hematopoiesis mutations increase cardiovascular disease by increasing inflammation,” McApline says. By getting good sleep and exercising regularly, you’re actively working against that disease process, making mutant stem cells created by clonal hematopoiesis “more metabolically healthy,” he says.

“Sleep has always been a time of body repair, and it appears this is happening at the genetic level as well,” says Christopher Winter, M.D., a sleep medicine specialist, neurologist, and author of The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How to Fix It. “We have always known about the relationship between poor sleep and decreased immunity/increased inflammation, but this might just be scratching the surface.”

Regular movement also helps drive down several risk factors for cardiovascular disease, points out Kevin Shah, M.D., cardiologist and program director of Heart Failure Outreach at Long Beach Medical Center’s MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute. Shah says that exercise can help lower blood pressure, maintain a healthy weight, and boost your body’s sensitivity to insulin (a hormone that helps escort glucose to your cells, where it’s used for energy).

According to Dr. Winter, a growing body of research suggests that combining good sleep habits with regular exercise can have a big impact on health. “Exercise and sleep might ultimately be activities that can trump genetic predisposition,” he says.

How much sleep and exercise should older adults aim for?

Adults aged 65 and up should aim to get seven to eight hours of sleep a night, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Consistency is important with this, according to Dr. Winter. “Stay active and keep a solid 24-hour schedule,” he says.

On the exercise front, Dr. Shah says that aiming for 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity each week “is a solid baseline.” That can include activities like brisk walking, jogging, swimming, and bike riding; balance activities, like walking heel-to-toe or standing from a sitting position, are also crucial for those over 65, according to the CDC.

Other ways to lower your risk of heart disease

Dr. Shah recommends following the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8, a list of heart-healthy lifestyle behaviors. Here’s a breakdown:

• Eat a diet featuring whole foods, including fruits and vegetables, lean protein, nuts, and seeds.
• Aim for 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity a week.
• Avoid tobacco.
• Try to get at least seven hours of sleep a night.
• Manage your cholesterol by limiting sugary foods and drinks, red and processed meats, salty foods, refined carbohydrates, and highly processed foods.
• Do your best to manage your blood sugar.
• Stay on top of your blood pressure.

Collectively, all of these are important. “Even if you have genetic mutations that increase your risk of cardiovascular disease, a healthy lifestyle can counteract some of these genetic mutations,” McAlpine says.