Small Tweaks to our Daily Habits can have a Big Impact on our Heart Health

The researchers assessed the sleep, physical activity and nutrition (SPAN) of more than 53,000 people for eight years; in that time, around 2,000 suffered a major cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack or stroke. Those who had the healthiest lifestyles had a 57 percent lower risk of these events, and they were sleeping on average eight or nine hours each night, exercising around 42 minutes a day and following a healthy diet.

Lead researcher Nicholas Koemal said, “Combining small changes in a few areas of our lives can have a surprisingly large positive impact on our cardiovascular health.”

Researchers from Northwestern University agree. They suggest eating your last meal of the day three hours before you go to bed, so extending the time you fast. Going a little longer between meals improves blood pressure, heart rate and blood-sugar control, which in turn can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. And all this can be achieved without eating less.

They found that middle-aged and older people especially benefit from extending the fasting window by two hours—an hour in the evening and again in the morning before eating breakfast—if they are already at risk of cardiometabolic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Their study involved 39 people who were overweight or obese and were aged 36–75 years. They asked the participants to stick to either an extended overnight fast (13–16 hours of fasting, including sleep time) or a habitual fasting window of 11–13 hours.

Although the time spent fasting was similar in the two groups, those who fasted longer and timed their fast around their sleep time recorded a drop in nighttime blood pressure of 3.5 percent and a drop in heart rate of 5 percent.

The researchers say that planning fasting to align with sleep makes it more achievable and lowers the chance of snacking between meals.