“Per EMC Healthcare, a number of physiological changes occur to help wake up the body and get it moving — and also happen to put strain on the heart.”

“When you wake up, your body experiences spikes in stress hormones — as well as a handful of things that affect bloodflow, like the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, slight dehydration from the night before and slow fibrinolytic activity, or the process that helps keep blood from clotting.”

“All of these things put you more at cardiovascular disease — the number one killer in the US — especially if other risk factors are already at play.”

“Cardiovascular events are “more common in winter, at the beginning of each month, on Mondays (in working people) and during the early morning hours of each day,” Dr. William J. Elliott wrote in the American Journal of Hypertension.”

“Between 6 a.m. and noon, there’s a 40% higher risk of heart attack, and a 29% increased risk of dying from it.”

“There’s an even higher risk of stroke in the hours after waking up: a staggering 49%, according to Dr. Elliott.”

“Many of the same reasons and risk factors that apply for morning heart attacks are true for stroke, too, which is the fifth leading cause of death in the US.”

“An analysis by the American Heart Association found that both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke — stroke caused by a blocked artery or clot and stroke caused by a hemorrhaging or leaking artery, respectively — were significantly more likely to occur in the morning hours, contradicting previous studies that found strokes were more likely to occur during sleep.”