The risk of heart disease increases significantly for those who regularly suffer from fitful sleep, finds a new study by Berkeley researchers. The researchers believe that the key reason could be that fragmented sleep increases inflammation in the body, and inflammation is known to raise a person's risk for atherosclerosis and stroke. "Improving sleep may offer a novel way to reduce inflammation and thus reduce the risk of atherosclerosis," says psychology and neuroscience professor Matthew Walker, director of Berkeley's Center for Human Sleep Science, one of the study's co-authors. The study evaluated the sleep quality of more than 1,600 adults using two common sleep evaluation tools -- lab-based polysomnography and actigraphy, a movement detector worn on the wrist over several nights -- as well as measurements of the blood cell counts of two types of white blood cells known to raise inflammation. "These findings may help inform public health guidelines that seek to increase the continuity of sleep as a way to improve health and decrease the burden of heart disease on society," Professor Walker says. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News. Stories on this topic appeared in dozens of sources around the world, including Forbes, Medical News (Australia), Yahoo! Style (UK), Eurasia Review, Medical Dialogues (India), Telegraph (UK), and Retail Pharmacy Magazine.