I’ve always struggled with inconsistent sleep, staying up late and waking up at different times each day. My love for coffee was also on an all-time high with trying all the season specials. But it is only recently, I learned how this irregular sleep pattern and caffeine could increase my risk of heart attack and stroke. Now, I’m prioritizing a consistent sleep schedule and cutting out caffeine after 3 PM to protect my heart.

A new, shocking study shows that irregular sleep patterns can greatly increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. But that's not all: the timing of your caffeine intake could also play a critical role in your cardiovascular health. If you are struggling with inconsistent sleep patterns and regularly sipping on caffeinated beverages late in the day, you may be unknowingly putting yourself at risk for serious heart-related issues.

For most people, sleep is something of a given and we often only consider ourselves as long as we get our required seven to nine hours. However, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, it may not be that long after all. The study, which included more than 72,000 participants, found that people with irregular sleep patterns—those who fall asleep and wake up at vastly different times each day—face a 26% higher risk of experiencing a heart attack or stroke. This increased risk persisted even for those who managed to get enough sleep. The study followed up participants for eight years to track heart events such as heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure. The conclusions were clear: irregular sleep, even if it's sufficient in duration, is a major cardiovascular risk factor.

The researchers found that those whose sleep patterns were highly irregular had a significantly greater chance of life-threatening heart issues. The more erratic your sleep schedule, the greater the risk, regardless of how many hours you sleep. In fact, people with irregular sleep schedules showed worse cardiovascular health outcomes, including higher rates of high blood pressure, elevated stress hormones, and poor blood sugar and cholesterol management.

Senior scientist Dr. Jean-Philippe Chaput said "sleep regularity may be more relevant than sufficient sleep duration in modulating MACE [major adverse cardiovascular event] risk." In the study, it shows that our bodies are comfortable with consistency, and a varied sleep schedule may interfere with other processes that keep us healthy, especially the heart.

Is it Caffeine After 3 PM Causing Sleeplessness?

Another daily habit that may be putting your heart at risk is caffeine consumption after 3 PM. According to Dr. Chaput, the experts emphasize the need for a healthy sleep schedule and avoiding caffeine late in the day. Caffeine can stay in your blood for up to eight hours, and its consumption later in the afternoon can disrupt your sleep cycle.

Consistent, good-quality sleep is necessary for maintaining healthy cardiovascular function, and the disruption of this by late-day caffeine intake exacerbates the risks posed by irregular sleep. When you drink coffee, tea, or other caffeinated beverages too late, the stimulant effect on your nervous system makes it harder to fall asleep at a regular time. This can lead to inconsistent sleep patterns, which, as we have seen, can be harmful to heart health.

Dr Chaput insists that humans need to adopt practices that contribute to regularized sleep habits. This can be attained by establishing a proper sleeping and waking schedule, eliminating afternoon intake of stimulants such as caffeine, and making your body clock coincide with the lifestyle one leads.

How Does Poor Sleep Affect Heart Health?

According to the experts, the disturbance due to irregular sleep patterns impacts more than one physiological process involved in the maintenance of the healthy heart. For example, poor sleep can be associated with increased inflammation of the body, weakened immunity, and altered regulation of blood sugar and cholesterol, all of which contribute to increased blood pressure and weakening endothelial function, both associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases. Sleep also plays a very important role in regulating stress hormones. Poor or disturbed sleep results in increased levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, which increases blood pressure and can have negative impacts on cardiovascular health over time.

Scientists hypothesize that these disturbances trigger a series of negative effects that enhance the risk of developing chronic heart conditions, including hypertension, atherosclerosis, or even heart failure.

Tips to Protect Your Heart and Improve Your Sleep

In order to protect your heart, experts recommend several proactive measures to improve your sleep patterns and lifestyle. First, maintain a regular sleep schedule whereby you go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, including weekends. Consistency will keep your body's internal clock in check.

Along with regulating your sleep, paying attention to your caffeine habits is just as important. To reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke, experts suggest avoiding caffeine after 3 PM. If you’re sensitive to caffeine, this rule becomes even more critical.

In addition, the introduction of stress-reducing activities like yoga or mindfulness can also be beneficial to lower cortisol levels, and therefore both sleep and heart health can improve. A diet rich in antioxidants, healthy fats, and low on processed sugars also helps maintain cholesterol levels and reduce inflammation.

Does Your Sleep Environment Also Has A Role To Play

Apart from the timing of caffeine and your sleep schedule, another very overlooked factor is the quality of your sleep environment. Scientists have long known that the environment in which you sleep has a huge impact on the quality of your rest. Poor quality of sleep, even if your sleep schedule is regular, can cause health risks that are very much the same as those that arise from irregular sleep patterns.

Here’s an additional tip: make sure your bedroom is conducive to restful sleep. This means keeping your room dark, quiet, and cool. A temperature of around 65°F (18°C) is ideal for most people. Consider investing in a comfortable mattress and pillows, and avoid screen time at least 30 minutes before bed to allow your brain to unwind.

Irregular sleep, in association with taking caffeine in late parts of the day, can risk heart attack and stroke, but a simple maintenance of a sleep schedule, the reduction of consumption of afternoon caffeine, and sleep environmental awareness can definitely safeguard one's heart along with total health.

Your sleep is more than just a time for rest; it's a vital component of your long-term health, and maintaining consistency in your sleep habits is one of the best things you can do for your heart.

You’re exhausted after a long day. You finally get into bed, hoping for restful sleep—but your mind won’t switch off. Sound familiar?

According to spiritual coach and energy healer Oliver Niño, who works with celebrities like Tony Robbins and Jessica Alba, the issue might not be your bedtime routine or screen time but the stress you've carried into the night.

“Anxiety tends to build up because people carry it on from their day, and they sleep with it,” Niño told *The Post*. “They wake up the next day, and they really aren’t able to get enough sleep. The anxieties of the day before follow them over the next day, and they kind of snowball.”

This is why Niño emphasizes what he calls a “nighttime anxiety detox.” And the busier you are, the more crucial it becomes. “A lot of times, people say, ‘I don’t have time to do much,’” he said. “To me, it’s reversed. The harder it is, the more you have to do it.”

To help his clients—many of whom are pressed for time—Niño focuses on short, effective practices that take five minutes or less. In his new book, Do This Before Bed: Simple 5-Minute Practices That Will Change Your Life, he shares techniques that aim to reset the nervous system and clear emotional clutter before sleep.

Color Therapy

Color therapy, Niño explains, involves visualizing colors as you prepare for sleep. “When you’re going to bed or when you’re meditating and you’re imagining different colors coming down and filling you up,” he said, this practice taps into ancient beliefs that colors carry specific energies and healing properties. He suggests imagining “white coming down from the sky, filling you up,” and experimenting with different colors to find one that brings calm and peace.

Geometric Breathing

Many are familiar with breathwork, but Niño prefers “geometric breathing,” which involves inhaling, holding, and exhaling in equal intervals—typically five seconds each. “While you’re doing that, you’re visualizing—you’re inhaling positive energy, you’re inhaling love and light,” he said. “And when you’re releasing, when you’re exhaling, you’re breathing out every stress, every anxiety, everything that you held onto that day.”

Cord Cutting

When people affect your mood long after they’ve left the room, it could be due to what Niño calls energetic cords. These emotional ties can drain you. “If someone’s affecting me, I probably have what I call an energetic cord attached from them to me,” he explained. To break this, Niño uses visualization: he imagines being filled with light, then visualizes his hands as swords slicing through those cords.

Physical Activity

Whether it's journaling, dancing, or stretching, Niño recommends using movement to release built-up tension. “For some people, they want to go for a night walk, or they want to dance or shake it off or do some yoga,” he said. Other calming activities include salt baths, sound baths, and incense.

Laughter Therapy

Sometimes, a little humor can work wonders. “Some people, they want laughter therapy,” Niño said. Watching a funny video or scrolling through memes can provide that release. “When they’re laughing, anxiety can’t build up.”

Canada is facing its largest measles outbreak in over a decade and health experts have suggested that wastewater surveillance, which is a tool used widely during the COVID-19 pandemic could actually help control the virus.

What Is Wastewater Surveillance?

Wastewater surveillance is a process that involves testing sewage samples for viral pathogens. It has previously played a crucial role in tracking COVID-19. The data also helped health officials monitor the virus's trajectory and predict case surges. Many experts now argue that the same approach could be useful in identifying measles outbreaks before they escalate.

Despite this, public health officials have not implemented wastewater testing for measles. In Ontario, a measles hotspot, wastewater monitoring was discontinued last summer, leaving the province reliant on the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). However, PHAC's national dashboard does not currently track measles. Instead, it monitors reported case counts but has no plans to include measles in wastewater analysis.

Detecting Measles Before Symptoms Appear

Like COVID-19, measles can be transmitted by asymptomatic carriers, meaning reported case numbers may be underestimated. This is where wastewater surveillance could provide early warnings.

"We could identify wastewater catchment areas where the measles virus is spreading and implement targeted public health measures," said Eric Arts, a microbiology professor at Western University. Increased vaccinations and public education efforts in high-risk areas could make a significant impact.

A recent study from Ottawa confirmed that monitoring measles in wastewater complements other public health strategies. Mike McKay, director of the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER), has been testing wastewater for COVID-19 since the early pandemic days. His team also began testing for measles in southwestern Ontario earlier this year, mirroring an approach adopted in Detroit.

"Measles is an ideal candidate for wastewater detection because infected individuals shed the virus days before showing symptoms," McKay explained. However, PHAC has not requested measles testing, so McKay has been conducting it through informal agreements with municipalities and hospitals.

Overcoming Testing Challenges

One challenge with wastewater testing for measles is differentiating between the virus and its live-attenuated vaccine. When individuals receive the vaccine, they can shed a weakened form of the virus, which could be misinterpreted as an active infection. Sequencing the viral signal is necessary to distinguish between the two, adding a few days to the testing process.

Insufficient Testing Sites Leave Gaps

Both Arts and McKay emphasize the need for more wastewater testing sites for effective surveillance. PHAC currently operates 74 wastewater reporting sites across Canada, primarily focused on COVID-19, covering only about 37% of the population.

Given Ontario's ongoing outbreak, Arts criticized the decision to scale back wastewater surveillance. "The rationale for canceling these programs made no sense," he said, pointing out that wastewater testing is a cost-effective alternative to labor-intensive contact tracing.

A memo from Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health confirmed that the current outbreak originated from a large gathering in the Mennonite community of New Brunswick. Many cases in Ontario’s southwestern region, as well as in Manitoba, are linked to this event.

The Need for Immediate Action

Measles is spreading rapidly, particularly among under-immunized communities such as Mennonite, Amish, and other Anabaptist groups. Unfortunately, these regions lack active wastewater monitoring, leaving public health officials with limited data to track the outbreak's progression.

"The public health units in these areas don’t have access to real-time data. They don’t know when the outbreak has plateaued," McKay noted.

Experts argue that reinstating and expanding wastewater surveillance could help contain future outbreaks and improve public health response.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is the most common hormonal disorder in women of reproductive age, affecting approximately 8% to 13% of all women worldwide. For some women, PCOS does not simply impact physical health and metabolism—it profoundly disrupts the reproductive systems and makes motherhood much more complicated. Often, the question that arises on this path to motherhood is whether women with PCOS ought to pursue In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) earlier in life.

This article delves extensively into this issue and provides an in-depth appreciation of fertility windows for women with PCOS, based on input from top specialists, current research, and everyday clinical experience.

PCOS is an endocrine syndrome involving a collection of hormonal dysbalances. Many women with PCOS have hypersecretion of luteinising hormone (LH), hyposecretion of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), hyposecretion of estrogen, and hypersecretion of male hormones (androgens). These hormonal alterations cause ovulatory disturbances, and many women suffer from irregular or no menstrual cycle, and many also develop ovarian cysts.

The outcome? Most women with PCOS do not ovulate or ovulate very infrequently, greatly decreasing their ability to conceive naturally. In spite of this, however, most women with PCOS are able to become pregnant—though it tends to take longer and possibly even need medical intervention.

When Should Women with PCOS Seek Fertility Treatments?

Fertility experts generally recommend that women under 35 seek help if they haven’t conceived after 12 months of trying. For women over 35, the timeline shortens to six months. However, for women with PCOS, irregular ovulation makes this timeline less reliable. Waiting a year may not be ideal if ovulation isn’t occurring regularly.

As per Dr. Rita Bakshi, lead gynecologist and fertility specialist, "If a woman with PCOS experiences irregular or missing ovulation, it's better to see a fertility specialist earlier. Time becomes a very important factor, particularly when age-related decline in fertility takes hold."

Before going straight to IVF, the treatment approach for women with PCOS also starts on the conservative side. The initial step is typically a change in lifestyle like:

Maintaining a healthy weight: Weight loss can help regulate hormones and improve ovulation.

Exercise: Regular physical activity enhances insulin sensitivity and boosts metabolic health.

Balanced diet: A diet low in refined sugars and high in fiber can help manage insulin levels.

If lifestyle modifications alone fail to restore ovulation, medications are added. Letrozole and Clomiphene Citrate are often prescribed to induce ovulation. In the case of insulin resistance, Metformin can be prescribed to normalize menstrual cycles.

If drugs and ovulation stimulation treatments don't work, physicians can move on to gonadotropin therapy, in which hormone shots are used to stimulate the ovaries. Still, not all women will be successful with these treatments. Those who do not ovulate following these treatments—or those with other fertility issues such as blocked fallopian tubes, endometriosis, or male factor infertility—will find IVF the best next option.

"IVF is a robust option, particularly when time is not on your side," states Dr. Bakshi. "Women over 35 shouldn't hesitate if initial treatments haven't been successful. Fertility decreases with age, and early IVF can enhance success rates."

Why Consider IVF Earlier?

For women with PCOS, IVF isn't necessarily the initial treatment of choice—but it shouldn't be the last resort either. Although it is a rigorous and expensive process, IVF can circumvent many of the ovulatory issues that PCOS presents. It provides direct control over the process of ovulation, egg retrieval, and fertilization—giving a greater chance of success in complicated cases.

Early IVF consideration is especially applicable when:

• The woman is over the age of 35 and hasn't become pregnant with initial treatment.
• Ovulation-inducing drugs have been unsuccessful.
• There are other causes of infertility involved.
• There's a wish to reduce the stress and emotional impact of repeated failed attempts.

Every woman is different, and one-size-fits-all timelines won't work for everyone. Referral to a fertility specialist knowledgeable about PCOS is important. The specialist will take a medical history, perform hormonal testing, and recommend an individualized treatment regimen that can include IVF earlier if medically indicated.

"There is no one-size-fits-all solution," stresses Dr. Bakshi. "But in women with PCOS, delaying too long can limit choices. An intervention at the right time can be the difference-maker."

Dr. Rita Bakshi is a Senior gynaecologist and Co-founder at RISAA IVF in India