The Rundown

Zzzz’s on the Regular. A new sleep study supports what previous research has theorized and many doctors recommend: Consistent sleep is the key to a healthy heart. In the new paper, researchers connect irregular sleep to an early sign of cardiovascular disease.

The team studied one week of sleep data from 2,000 adults over age 45. They found that people who slept different amounts every night, particularly when it varied by two or more hours from one night to the next, and went to bed at different times were more likely to have hardened arteries (high levels of calcified fatty plaque) than those who had more regular sleep patterns.

The study’s lead author notes that the research could not confirm that varying sleep patterns definitively caused the heart issues and their findings don’t mean that an occasional late night or very early morning is a deal breaker. It’s more about a long-term pattern of consistency. As one sleep specialist puts it, “Keeping a regular, set schedule is more likely to put your body in a place where it needs to be to get a full night’s sleep going forward.”

AM Burn. A study from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of Copenhagen has demonstrated that physical activity in the morning seems to increase fat metabolism compared to exercise at night, at least in mice.

The researchers studied the adipose tissue of mice after a session of high-intensity exercise at two points of their daily cycle, an early active phase and a rest phase, which correspond to late morning and late evening in humans.

They found that physical activity in the early active phase increased the expression of genes involved in the breakdown of adipose tissue, heat production and mitochondria in the adipose tissue, indicating a higher metabolic rate. Only mice that performed physical activity in the early active phase showed these effects and they were independent of food intake.

Mice are a well-established model for human physiology and metabolism and while more studies are needed, the study’s co-author, Professor Juleen Zierath, suggests that “the right timing seems to be important to the body’s energy balance and to improving the health benefits of exercise.”

Whoop Drops Price. Fitness tracker Whoop is lowering subscription prices. Annual subscription rates will drop from $300 to $239 and 24-month subscriptions will decrease from $480 to $399. The monthly membership will stay at $30 with a 12-month commitment.

The company also announced some upcoming features including a new lifetime warranty policy, a weightlifting metric to track reps and muscular strain, a new home screen, more recovery insights and a new stress monitor with Andrew Huberman, the host of the popular Huberman Lab podcast.

Extra Point

Watch

Outta the Muck. Part of PBS’s Independent Lens, this documentary from directors Ira Mckinley and Bhawin Suchak follows Mckinley as he tells the story of his family’s roots in Pahokee, a rural town of about 6,000 people on the banks of Lake Okeechobee, Florida. Known for its rich high school football legacy, Pahokee has sent more than a dozen players to the NFL.

The film is part slice-of-life family movie and part high school sports drama, as it leads up to the Muck Bowl, the annual game between the Pahokee Blue Devils and the Belle Glade Raiders, which is considered to be one of the fiercest high school rivalries in the country. Outta the Muck is streaming here on PBS.

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Listen

Sleep With Me. Host Drew Ackerman wants to tell you a bedtime story. Created in 2013, Sleep With Me “combines the pain of insomnia with the relief of laughing and turns it into a unique storytelling podcast.”

Read

An Open Letter to Runners Who Think They’re ‘Too Slow.’ In this piece for Shape, Kara Cutruzzula offers an upbeat take on running for those of us (me included!) who might not always feel great about our pace.