The cardiovascular effects appear to operate through inflammation. Sleep deprivation triggers a chronic low-grade inflammatory response that damages blood vessel walls and promotes plaque formation. Over years and decades, this damage compounds.
Despite the growing evidence, cultural attitudes toward sleep remain stubbornly resistant to change. In many professional environments, sleeping less is still treated as a badge of honour, a sign of dedication and drive. Silicon Valley executives boast about five-hour nights. Junior doctors routinely work thirty-hour shifts.
"We would never celebrate someone who refused to eat or drink water," said Dr. Arianna Huffington, who has campaigned for better sleep habits since collapsing from exhaustion in 2007. "Yet we glorify sleep deprivation as though it were a virtue. It is not. It is a form of self-harm."
The researchers behind the NIH study are calling for public health campaigns modelled on anti-smoking efforts, complete with clear guidelines, workplace regulations, and school education programmes. Whether governments will listen remains to be seen.