Women who are often sleepy during the day tend to have underlying conditions that raise their risk of heart attack and stroke. [s]Health24[/s] reports that this is according to a study of data for more than 84,000 US women, which linked daytime sleepiness to a more than doubled cardiovascular risk. Researchers say, however, that sleep disorders and other illnesses are really to blame, making the drowsiness a symptom, not a cause. Lead author Dr James Gangwisch and colleagues point out that they cannot determine whether there's a two-way relationship between poor sleep and other health conditions. Disturbed sleep, as happens with sleep apnoea, for instance, is thought to contribute to cardiovascular risk factors like high blood pressure. On the other hand, they write, illnesses from depression to diabetes are thought to contribute to sleep disturbances as well as independently raising cardiovascular risk.
[link url=http://www.health24.com/Medical/Heart/News/Daytime-sleepiness-may-indicate-heart-disease-risk-20140430]Full Health24 report[/link]
[link url=http://www.sleep-journal.com/article/S1389-9457(14)00128-2/abstract]Sleep Medicine abstract[/link]