Sleep and Exercise May Offset Some Genetic Risks for Heart Disease

Sleep and exercise may blunt some of the cardiovascular harm caused by clonal hematopoiesis, a condition in which blood-cell mutations accumulate over a lifetime. In a study published June 10 in Nature, researchers reported that these mutations can intensify inflammation and raise the risk of heart disease and stroke, even without the usual risk factors such as smoking, diabetes, or high cholesterol. The team analyzed genetic data and activity levels from more than 91,000 adults in the United Kingdom and the United States and found that the proportion carrying certain clonal hematopoiesis mutations was 13 percent lower among those with moderate to vigorous physical activity. Mouse experiments were more direct: genetically engineered animals with these mutations, fed a high-cholesterol diet, developed less atherosclerosis when they used an exercise wheel, while sleep disruption produced the opposite effect. The benefit, however, was not universal and depended on the gene variant involved. One of the more harmful variants is found in 3 to 4 percent of Europeans, suggesting that the findings could matter for a sizeable group of people.