Yet another study links lack of sleep to health problems. Healthy middle aged people (35-47 years old) were followed for five years. 

At the beginning of the study, they had a CT scan that looked for the presence of calcium in their arteries, a known risk factor for heart disease. Their sleep patterns were measured using a wrist device that senses movement and is considered an objective measure of the amount of sleep obtained during the night.

Results were pretty dramatic. Only 6 percent of those who got at least seven hours of sleep had calcification, compared with 11 percent who got five to seven hours and 27 percent who got less than five hours, said the senior author, Diane Lauderdale, an associate professor of health studies at the University of Chicago.

At the end of the study, they underwent a second CT scan. A total of 12.3 percent of the subjects had developed at least some calcification in their arteries, a sign of early heart disease. The study was published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study took into account other known risk factors for heart disease, including sleep apnea, cholesterol, blood pressure, body weight, diabetes and depression.

B. Tucker Woodson, a sleep specialist at the Medical College of Wisconsin who was also not a part of the study, said he was surprised at the magnitude of the effect given that the study lasted only five years and that the volunteers were healthy people in their 30s and 40s.

“What happens over 10 years in people who are less healthy?” he said. “Sleep is important. If you are sleep deprived, it has metabolic consequences.

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