Told that staying up late on the weekend and sleeping in, or constantly bouncing your bedtime around, is just harmless catching up on rest? Think again. In this episode, we look at startling new research linking chaotic sleep schedules and short sleep to a significantly higher risk of heart trouble with Prerna Varma from the Sleep Health Foundation.

• The Bedtime Variability Risk: How wide fluctuations in when you go to bed each night put immense stress on your internal body clock and cardiovascular regulation over time.

• The Danger Double-Whammy: Why the risk of major heart events spikes significantly for people who combine an erratic schedule with sleeping less than eight hours a night.

• Bedtime vs. Wake-up Time: Discovering why irregular bedtimes are far more closely linked to future heart risks than irregular wake-up times because we have more control over when we turn off the lights.

• The Midlife Window: Why building solid, stable sleep patterns during midlife is critical for safeguarding long-term cardiovascular health.