Hit the Sack!

Are you a night owl? If so, you might be putting your heart health at risk, say researchers at the Misao Health Clinic in Gifu, Japan. Regardless of how much sleep 251 otherwise healthy men got on average (ranging from less than six hours to more than seven), those who reported going to bed after midnight on a regular basis had significantly more arterial stiffening, an early sign of atherosclerosis, than those turning in earlier. The researchers say late-night snacking, alcohol use and smoking by clubgoers who party into the wee hours, or simply an out-of-synch biological clock could also be risk factors for increased cardiac problems.