There is solid evidence that insufficient, poor sleep or even misaligned sleep is associated with heart health problems like high blood pressure.
“It makes sense to think about it simplistically, like, ‘Oh, yeah, sure, you lack something that is physiologically needed for survival, and therefore your whole system declines,’” said Dr. Julio Fernandez Mendoza. He’s a professor at Penn State College of Medicine and a clinician at the Penn State Health Sleep Research and Treatment Center.
He said the main connection between sleep quality and heart health is stress. When a person lacks sufficient sleep, they tend to have elevated stress hormone levels and other stressors that lead to heart health issues.
He explained that unhealthy sleep isn’t just getting less than the recommended number of hours.
It can also be napping to make up for lack of sleep, having fragmented sleep, sleeping too much, or not sticking to a schedule.
The current health recommendations are 7 to 8 hours of sleep for adults.
Dr. Fernandez Mendoza says it’s also recommended that the middle of your sleep period fall between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.
“That way is regardless of how much sleep you get and where you are, because we know 2:00 to 4:00 a.m. you are anchored to the biological night, for sure it's dark,” he said.
He acknowledged there are exceptions, there are some people that can be healthy on six hours of sleep or can still take naps and get quality sleep at night, but overall, these are the health recommendations for a reason.
“It comes from evidence, from multiple studies in the general population, showing that adults who report sleep in about seven to eight hours, are the ones with the best health in general, including good sleep quality and including heart health,” Dr. Fernandez Mendoza said.
Dr. Fernandez Mendoza was one of the authors of a recent study published in the journal Sleep. It found that inconsistent sleep schedules can increase cardiac risk in teens and young adults.
The study looked at the sleep patterns of those between the ages of 12 and 23.
It found that going to bed late and waking up early on school days had just as much impact on heart health as staying up late and sleeping in late on days off.
Dr. Fernandez Mendoza said it can also be sticking to a regular schedule during the school or work week and then staying up late on the weekend.
It’s what they referred to as “social jet lag” because it’s almost like crossing time zones.
“If you are submitted to a timing of sleep where you are delayed and sleeping in on the weekends, on free days, and then you have to, kind of like erratically, adapt to the school schedule or work schedule, that combination is the one that is the worst for, first of all, your health in general, and according to our study, also to your heart health,” said Dr. Fernandez Mendoza.
Roughly 30 to 40 percent of the population reports difficulty sleeping. Another 10 to 15 percent of the population has difficulty sleeping that reaches the clinical criteria to become a disorder, according to Dr. Fernandez Mendoza.
He does recommend six medically-back steps for better sleep that go beyond the typical good sleep hygiene like limiting caffeine or staying off your phone and other devices an hour before sleep.
Dr. Fernandez Mendoza’s recommended “rules” for sleeping better:
- Wake up everyday at the same time, no matter how you slept.
- Only use your bed for sleeping and sexual activity.
- Do not lay awake in bed, even if you have difficulty falling or staying asleep.
- Don’t try to nap to make up for sleep or stop your social life because of lack of sleep.
- Go to bed when you’re truly tired, not just because you have to.
His final rule is for when all those others start working, then you can start going to bed a little earlier, roughly 15 minutes, each week until you’re getting the recommended number of hours of sleep.
“It's very, very important for people to understand, especially those who disregard sleep, that they consider it a waste of time, to start to consider that sleep is important for health, and that devoting enough time to sleep is as essential as eating and exercising, moving during the day is a physiologic need,” said Dr. Fernandez Mendoza. “Those people need to understand that if they are self-infringing lack of sleep, they need to take care of their heart.”
Dr. Fernandez Mendoza recommends seeking professional medical help if you suffer from insomnia for more than three months.
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