Are you having trouble getting enough sleep? It could be affecting your heart. Find out what a lack of sleep does to the heart.
When it comes to heart health, we often focus on factors like diet and exercise while ignoring sleep time and quality. However, sleep plays an essential role in your heart health as it provides the body with a way to recharge itself. Getting good sleep can help prevent damage to the cardiovascular system, but what happens if you don’t get enough sleep?
Sleep Deprivation and Heart Health
As you sleep, your body enters non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep stages, in which your heart rate slows down, your blood pressure drops, and your breath stabilizes. As a result, your heart gets some stress relief, which allows it to recover from its day’s work.
However, insufficient sleep stops you from getting the amount of NREM sleep that your heart needs to recover. Consequently, a chronic lack of sleep can lead to various heart problems such as hypertension, high cholesterol, heart attack, and more. Chronic sleep deprivation can also lead to heart disease, heart failure, stroke, obesity, type 2 diabetes, angina, an irregular heartbeat, and heart palpitations.
There are also various sleep disorders such as insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) that can increase your cardiovascular health risk. For instance, OSA can cause fragmented sleep, which is difficulty staying asleep. Other disorders such as restless leg syndrome and circadian rhythm sleep disorders can negatively impact your sleep and heart health.
Additional Sleep Considerations
In addition to dealing with an additional strain on their heart health, many pregnant women also experience sleep difficulties. Issues such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and others during pregnancy can increase the risk for cardiovascular issues during and after pregnancy.
On the other hand, sleeping too much (more than nine hours per night) may also lead to heart problems. The underlying conditions that cause excess sleep may be the ones responsible for a higher rate of cardiovascular problems.
If you already have cardiovascular problems, it’s essential that you make getting quality sleep a priority. According to some evidence, improving sleep may reduce the likelihood of cardiovascular issues in people who are at high risk.
Improving Sleep and Heart Health
While there is no single solution, there are various things you can do to help improve your sleep quality. For example, you can practice relaxation techniques, keep a consistent schedule, and create an accommodating sleep environment. You should also avoid drinking alcohol or caffeine at night, not use electronic devices for at least an hour before bed, and not eat something heavy before you turn in for the night.
Some things that may help your sleep, as well as your heart health, include eating a healthy diet and exercising on a regular basis. In addition, if you want to give your health an extra boost, consider taking a supplement like L-arginine Plus. It promotes circulation, blood pressure, cholesterol, and more. Give your health the support it deserves by making sleep a priority and taking L-arginine Plus.