Atherosclerosis, the unifying mechanism for most of the non-fatal and fatal myocardial infarction and stroke events, is a multifactorial process that has been increasing in prevalence worldwide. Traditional risk factors for atherosclerosis have been extensively studied, but recent evidence pointed out that they explained approximately only 40-50% of the variability of markers of arterial damage and atherosclerosis. Therefore, growing interest has been devoted to exploring the relative role of the “nontraditional’ risk factors. One of the promising candidates is sleep […]

The relationships between sleep disturbances, depression and cardiovascular disease have gained growing interest in the last decades. Most evidence available suggests that several sleep disturbances (including sleep deprivation, insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea) are not only innocent bystanders, but may contribute to increase the cardiovascular risk.– The prevalence and impact of sleep disorders may vary depending on some clinical characteristics (for instance: age, gender and comorbidities). Aging is clearly a risk factor for developing sleep disturbances; consistent evidence have shown […]

Blood Pressure (BP) is continuously controlled by complex mechanisms involving the structural characteristics of the arterial system, the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic) integrated with the baroreceptor and chemoreceptor systems, the circulating volume and several vasoconstrictor and vasodilator hormone systems with systemic and local actions. The integration of these systems ensures that the blood pressure undergoes minimal variations in small intervals, but if we consider the whole day, there are times, such as during sleep and when getting up […]