Why your heart needs at least 6 hours of sleep each night
Your heart needs at least six hours of sound sleep each night to stay healthy, a new study says. People who don’t get enough sleep increase their risk for cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease — regardless of age, weight, smoking and exercise habits — the National Sleep Foundation says. The new study, by National Center for Cardiovascular Research in Madrid, seems to confirm that assertion. 'But this study emphasizes we have to include sleep as one of the weapons we use to fight heart disease — a factor we are compromising every day,” lead researcher Jose Ordovas said. Not enough sleep can cause atherosclerosis — the hardening and narrowing of arteries — which is the usual cause of heart attacks and strokes. Ordovas and the other researchers tracked nearly 4,000 Spanish adults whose average age was 46 and had no heart disease when the study began. >> Related: Sleep deprived? You’re probably not drinking enough water, study says People who slept fewer than six hours a night were 27 percent more likely to have bodywide atherosclerosis than those who slept seven to eight hours, Ordovas and his team reported. But too much sleep was shown to be problematic as well. Women in the study who slept more than eight hours a night also had an increased risk of atherosclerosis. The study also found that participants with 'poor-quality' sleep, meaning they awoke often during the night or had trouble falling asleep, were 34 percent more likely to have atherosclerosis. >> Related: Too much sleep linked to early death, disease risk 'This is the first study to show that objectively measured sleep is independently associated with atherosclerosis throughout the body, not just in the heart,' Ordovas said in a news release.
Judge denies recusal request in murder case
An Oklahoma judge denied a request Tuesday that she recuse herself from a murder case in Okmulgee. Amy Hall is accused of fatally shooting two of her teenage children and wounding her third child in November. Court records show Special District Judge Pandee Ramirez rejected a request by defense attorneys to step aside. Attorneys say Ramirez should disqualify herself because she is already overseeing a deprived action case involving Hall and the surviving child. Court records do not show that Hall has yet entered a plea.
Rand Paul going to Canada for surgery
He's one of the most outspoken critics of socialized medicine, so why is Kentucky Senator Rand Paul going to CANADA for hernia surgery? The story in the Louisville Courier-Journal says the hospital in Thornhill, Ontario is privately owned. But it does get a majority of its funding from the Ontario government and accepts the Ontario’s Hospital Insurance Plan. A spokesperson for Paul points out that Paul is not covered by Ontario's insurance plan and will be paying cash for his surgery. The hospital is considered a world leader in hernia repair. Paul’s hernia is reportedly connected to an incident where he was attacked by his neighbor, who was allegedly angry about Paul stacking brush on his property. You can read more about the story here.
