Too Little Sleep May Be Hard On Your Heart

Get enough good quality sleep to remain healthy and hearty. You may be sleeping too much or not enough. Find out what your sleeping pattern looks like and see whether you are getting enough quality rest for good health. During sleep, your body repairs itself and gets rid of waste products. Sleep also helps keep your immune system strong because it helps keep inflammation down. Your heart works hard during the day while you are awake, but especially when you get enough good quality sleep.

How Much Sleep Is Needed?

Sleep is important for maintaining good health. Getting enough sleep helps you feel better and improves your mood, energy levels, and ability to think clearly. It also improves your focus and attention, reduces the chance of disease, and helps you control your weight. Many adults think they are getting enough sleep. The truth is that you need at least 7 hours of sleep each night. Unfortunately, more than 1 in 3 American adults say they do not get the recommended amount of sleep. This low-sleep state can lead to serious health problems—and make certain health problems worse, and research has found that people who get just six hours or less sleep at night tend to have a higher risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.

Linkage Between Health Conditions And Sleep

Sleep deprivation can lead to chronic health problems, including heart attack, heart disease, and stroke. People who sleep little are at a higher risk of health problems. The unhealthy effects of long-term poor sleep quality include heart problems, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression and anxiety, memory loss, slowed reaction time and mood swings, damaged immunity, and increased risk of diabetes. People who sleep less than 7 hours each night are more likely to have problems including heart attack, asthma, and depression. The other health problem which one might encounter are:

• High Blood Pressure: High blood pressure is the silent killer. High blood pressure is one of the leading risks of heart disease and stroke. About 75 million American adults—1 in 3 adults—have high blood pressure. If you have sleep problems and your blood pressure is not under control, your risk of heart disease and stroke increases. High blood pressure means that too much blood is pumped from your heart during each heartbeat. So when you have high blood pressure and get less-than-ideal amounts of rest, the damage can be worse than ever before.

• Type 2 Diabetes: Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, and it is often called “adult-onset” diabetes. It occurs when the body does not make enough insulin to work properly in your body. As a result, glucose builds up in your blood instead of being transported by the hormone insulin. This can damage your blood vessels leading to serious health problems like heart disease and stroke. Type 2 diabetes is a fast-growing problem, especially among those who do not get enough sleep. Good sleep can help the body burn fat, improve insulin sensitivity, and blood sugar control, and keep inflammation down.

• Obesity: Lack of sleep can lead to unhealthy weight gain. This is especially true for children and adolescents, who need more sleep than adults. Not getting enough sleep may affect a part of the brain that controls hunger, and make it difficult for individuals to know when they are full. Furthermore, chronic lack of sleep may increase stress levels and make it harder for your body to cope with daily challenges like hunger and illness.

Sleep Conditions Which Can Hurt Mental Health

Sleep problems can hurt your heart. Over time, sleep problems can hurt your heart health. Sleep makes your heart strong and healthy. When you do not get enough sleep or have sleep problems, your heart beats faster and harder for longer periods. You may have all the symptoms of a heart attack but not know that you are at risk until it is too late.

Sleep apnea occurs when your airway gets blocked repeatedly during sleep, causing you to stop breathing for short periods. Sleep apnea is common in people who have it, which means you might need a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine to help with your sleep apnea. This machine connects to your mouth and nose, forcing air down into your throat while you sleep. The most common causes of sleep apnea include obesity, central sleep apnea, and enlarged tonsils. Sleep apnea causes you to stop breathing at night. That decreases the amount of oxygen in your blood and raises your risk for heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, and other serious health problems. It is more common among Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans than among whites.

Insomnia is a common sleep problem. Over time, poor sleep can also lead to unhealthy habits that can hurt your heart, including higher stress levels, less motivation to be physically active, and unhealthy food choices. Stress, poor-quality sleep, and unhealthy eating habits can cause your heart to suffer. Many people experience insomnia for one or more nights each month, and about 1 in 10 adults have long-term insomnia. Research shows that getting a good night’s sleep can reduce high blood pressure and heart disease risk factors.

Ways To Get Better Sleep

There are many ways by which a person who is suffering from lack of sleep can get more and a good amount of sleep. The different ways are:

• Stick to a regular sleep schedule. Go to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning, including on the weekends. Your body is more likely to fall into a pattern and stay in that routine if you do not disrupt it by going too far from your norm.
• Natural lighting is important for all types of health, but especially for weight loss since it helps burns calories. To get enough natural light, try to go for a morning or lunchtime walk.
• You should get enough physical activity during the day. That would be walking, running, or taking stairs instead of an elevator or escalator. The best way to reach your fitness goal is to break up the time you spend working out into small segments throughout the day. But make one thing clearly does not work out within a few hours of sleep.
• Avoid artificial light, especially within a few hours of bedtime. Use a blue light filter on your computer or smartphone. Use a blue light filter on your computer or smartphone to avoid damaging your eyes and make the right time to sleep a little easier. This may make it harder for you to fall asleep and sleep more restfully.
• Bedtime is when your body is at its most vulnerable and susceptible to medicine. Fat and sugar can cause a spike in your blood sugar, keeping you awake at night. Alcohol can lead to dehydration, which makes you feel sleepy. Do not eat or drink within a few hours of bedtime; avoid alcohol and foods high in fat or sugar.
• Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet with the Quiet Night Light. The LED light helps keep you comfortable, even if you sleep in total darkness.
• Sleep is important for all of us, but it is especially important for people with chronic health conditions. Work with your health care team to identify obstacles that might affect your sleep and ways to improve your quality of sleep.

Research On How Too Little Sleep Bad For Heart

A new study shows that people who sleep less than six hours per night are about twice as likely to have a stroke or heart attack as those who get six to eight hours of sleep. And they are about 70% more likely to have congestive heart failure. “The optimal sleep time appears to be six to eight hours,” says Rohit Arora, MD (Muscular Dystrophy), chairperson of cardiology at Chicago Medical School.

A new study presented in Chicago at the American College of Cardiology’s annual meeting suggests that sleep may be linked to heart health, though there’s little evidence that being too tired directly causes heart disease. Notably, a large majority of Americans (more than 30%) are not getting enough sleep at night, according to a national health survey. In fact, 30% of Americans do not get enough sleep on a regular basis, according to the American Sleep Association.

Study Details

Sleep is important to your health. In the study, people were asked how long they slept each night and if they had ever been told they had congestive heart failure, heart attack, coronary artery disease, angina, or stroke. Among the findings, we found that 9% of people who slept less than six hours had heart attacks and strokes vs. 5% of those who slept six to eight hours.

Research has found that people who sleep more than eight hours a night may be more likely to have chest pain of angina and coronary artery disease, a narrowing of the blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the heart. It is not as simple as just sleeping for eight hours every night, says JoAnne Foody. “Sleeping too little also has an impact on how your body responds to exercise,” she says. Having sleep more than the need of the body may result in various issues.