LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "People know how important diet and exercise are in preventing strokes," study author and researcher at the University of Alabama Megan Ruiter says. "The public is less aware of the impact of insufficient amounts of sleep. Sleep is important - the body is stressed when it doesn't get the right amount."

According to national health figures, approximately 30 percent of people sleep less than six hours. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the number of people who report sleeping eight or more hours per night dropped from 38 percent in 2001 to 28 percent in 2011.

"The modern condition of excess work, excess pressure, no sleep -- all this disruption -- we can't adapt well to it metabolically," Sleep researcher Dr. Orfeu Buxton told WebMD. "This is a maladaptive response to modern life."

In order to arrive at their conclusions, researchers focused on study participants who were of normal weight, meaning there is another factor at play.

"This makes you scratch your head and say it's not just the known factors," Cardiologist Reena Pande says. "Less sleep is clearly linked to many harmful changes in the cardiovascular system."

There's a catch: even those who sleep eight hours a night are at risk if their sleep is not quality sleep. Dr. Michael Breus, author of the book "Beauty Sleep," says that sleep researchers put too much emphasis on the amount of sleep instead of focusing on what's really important.

"Oftentimes, we only think of sleep in terms of minutes -- but that's really the quantity of sleep. In fact, there's a quality of sleep," he said. "If you have sleep apnea and you stop breathing through the night, you might feel really tired in the morning even though you've gotten eight hours. Those eight hours were horrible, light . sleep."

Those in search of a higher level of constructive rest should try to go to bed at the same time every day, create a relaxing bedroom environment, and avoid watching television or eating a large meal right before bed and turn off their cell phone, according to WebMD.

"Any degree of sleep deprivation impairs performance or mood," Dr. Mark Mahowald, director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center says. "Our society has got to learn to respect sleep as biologically imperative. Getting a good night's sleep is as important as exercising regularly and eating a good diet."

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