Daytime napping may benefit heart health. A study appearing in the journal titled ‘Heart’ indicates that taking a daytime nap once or twice a week may reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes and heart failure by half. The research studied participants between the ages of 35 and 75 years who didn’t have any cardiovascular problems, and looked at the association between napping durations and frequencies and incidence of cardiovascular events. The analyses found that taking 1-2 weekly naps during the day reduces risk of heart failure by 48%, compared with those who didn’t nap at all.
AI-enhanced ECGs to save the day
A new Mayo Clinic study found that Artificial Intelligence-enhanced ECGs can detect atrial fibrillation during sinus rhythm. The AI-enabled electrocardiograph (ECG) uses a convolutional neural network to detect electrocardiographic signature of atrial fibrillation during a normal sinus rhythm. The AI was trained to recognise small differences in a normal ECG that would be indicative of changes in the heart’s structure due to atrial fibrillation. This AI-enhanced tech was then tested on a large target group of whom a percentage were diagnosed with atrial fibrillation; which correctly identified the subtle patterns of atrial fibrillation with 90% accuracy, a discovery that could potentially improve the accuracy of ECG screening.
