Too Little Sleep May Boost Your Risk of Cardiovascular Disease, Says Study Participants in the study who slept less than six hours a night were 27% more likely to develop plaque buildup in their arteries. The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. It looked at 4,000 adults with an average age of 46 with no known history of heart disease. Two-thirds of the participants were men. The study also found that those with a poor quality of sleep were 34% more likely to develop plaque buildup. José M. Ordovás, study author, via 'USA Today' Three studies presented last September revealed that those who slept between six and eight hours had a lower risk of heart disease.
