A new study by researchers in Canada, has found that people who experience irregular sleep patterns might have an increased risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Results of the study are published in the ‘Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health’. People who doze off and wake up at extremely varied times day by day have a 26 per cent increased risk of a potentially fatal heartrelated health emergency, the results show.

This elevated risk occurred whether or not these folks got their recommended seven to nine hours of nightly sleep, researchers found.

“Our results suggest that sleep regularity may be more relevant than sufficient sleep duration in modulating MACE [major adverse cardiovascular event] risk,” concluded the research team led by Jean-Philippe Chaput, a senior scientist with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Canada.”