At least one type of stroke is more likely in the morning, according to a study done by neurologists and internists at Italy's University of Ferrara. They found that about 44% of the ischemic strokes (due to reduced blood flow to the brain, as with a blood clot) in the population they studied started in the quarter of the day between 6am and noon. The scientists suggest a "chronotherapeutic approach," including antihypertensive agents designed to lower morning blood pressure. They also say that the pattern of a morning peak in strokes was strong enough that even when they arbitrarily assigned all the stroke cases for which first onset of symptoms was ambiguous to times other than the morning quarter of the day, the number of strokes in that quarter still strongly outweighed the other time periods.
Needless to say, the best solution to the problem of morning strokes might be to abolish mornings altogether, and I am surely not the only commentator hoping further studies lead to the conclusion that it would be safer all around if the entire populace lounged in bed in the morning, though drawing that conclusion at this time would be hasty...I suppose. Humans, unlike the dimwitted beasts of the field, have the power of rational choice, and engaging in dangerous activities such as getting up in the morning is something we can simply stop doing if we put our minds to it, just as we could have chosen a week consisting of six days leading perhaps to four work days and a weekend were it not for the Babylonians' obsession with the number seven (but that is a topic for another time and is not directly related to stroke prevention...I suppose).
The Italian stroke study and its anti-morning implications raise the possibility of the elderly forging a rare alliance with teenagers, whose circadian rhythms, according to some studies, make them ill-suited as early risers (I know I am still recovering from the sorrow I felt in high school upon realizing that the stars, in defiance of all decency, were visible outside my window when I rose each morning). Mary Caskadon, a psychiatry professor at Brown University medical school and director of sleep and chronobiology research at E.P. Bradley Hospital, led studies that suggest that puberty causes a shift in circadian rhythms that makes teens more prone to rise late and stay up late than their prepubescent counterparts (thus Saturday morning cartoons vs. 3am dance clubs). The study even found that teens showing fewer physical signs of maturity were more likely to favor morning activity than their same-age peers.
It should be noted, though, that in the stroke study the morning appeared to be a special danger mainly for those between the ages of forty-five and eighty-five, with the young and the extremely old not showing quite as much morning-sensitivity in the incidence of strokes. While the authors of the study do not claim to know why that difference exists, they speculate that it may indicate different pathophysiological mechanisms at work in the strokes of victims age forty-five to eighty-five than in others.
Despite obvious concerns about exercise and cardiovascular health, this author humbly suggests staying in bed until further research is done, just to be on the safe side.
