Sleep Deprivation and Heart Disease – I don’t have to start by explaining why a healthy heart is essential for our body. It directs all the significant functions in our body, pumps blood, and manages blood circulation. If the heart does not work correctly, we might suffer serious problems. Sadly still, a lot of people in the world are found to be dead to heart-related problems. It is becoming one of the significant problems. As per a study, it has been found that every 40 seconds, one person faces a heart attack in the United States.
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So it becomes a necessity to work on your heart’s health. It has been discovered that a poor diet, smoking, and not involving in physical activities contribute a lot to heart-related problems. And as per the latest studies, it has been found that one more element is contributing a lot nowadays to heart-related problems, heart attacks, diabetes, strokes, and even blood pressure. That element is “Sleep Deprivation.” It has been found that sleep deprivation is becoming the main reason behind various physical and mental problems in humans nowadays.
Due to busy schedule, people are not getting proper sleep of 7-8 hours nowadays, so their body is becoming unhealthy slowly. Quality Sleep is the main thing you should focus on because it is required to restore your energy and repair your cells. So if you want to minimize the effects of heart-related diseases and manage your blood pressure and strokes, then the first thing you should do is get a night of proper sleep. In this article, we will discuss the effects of Sleep Deprivation on our health.
Does Sleep Deprivation Affect Heart Health?
Studies show that sleep deprivation has adverse effects on our hearts. Because during the NREP – non-rapid eye movement, our heart beats slow down, blood pressure drops, and breathing stabilizes, so this is when our heart gets time to rest after the workload of the whole day. So if you are not getting proper deep sleep, it will not allow your heart to rest and recover properly. Thus, it will result in the heart’s improper working, leading to various heart-related problems.
Chronic sleep deprivation has been linked with heart-related problems, including high blood pressure, heart attack, high cholesterol, obesity, stroke, and diabetes.
Sleep and Heart Failure
A heart stops working or fails when it cannot pump enough blood and oxygen. And as per a study on over 400,000 people, a link between improper sleep or sleep deprivation and heart-related issues has been found. Studies have found that people with an improper sleep schedule, daytime sleeping, snoring, unhealthy sleep, insomnia, or not getting proper deep sleep may have more chances of heart failure. So the first thing you should do if you want a healthy heart is work on your sleep. Get a proper 7-8 hours of sleep and follow a proper schedule. Don’t become an evening or morning sleep person.
One of the reasons for having a heart attack is when it stops getting proper blood flow, and as per the study, it has been found that people who are getting less than 7 hours of sleep have 20% more chances of having a heart attack than others.
Sleep and Coronary Heart Disease
Coronary heart disease is becoming the leading factor for most deaths nowadays. In this disease, plaque builds up in one’s arteries, resulting in atherosclerosis. Because of this disease, the ability of the heart to pump enough blood and oxygen tends to reduce. And as per the research, the main reason for forming the plaque is Sleep Deprivation.
It has also been found that people who are not getting proper sleep may have higher or low heart rates. Because when we sleep and are in an NREP sleep state, our heartbeat slows, and our heart goes into rest mode. When we wake up after a full sleep heartbeat goes to the average rate. But having an improper sleep schedule will affect our heart rate as well. People with sleep deprivation will not get a regular heartbeat, and their heart rate will be higher or lower rather than the normal one.
Sleep and Heart Health During Pregnancy
For pregnant women, it becomes more serious to manage their sleep. It has been found that not getting proper sleep during pregnancy will affect not only the mother but also the baby’s health. In pregnancy, it becomes more dangerous.
Thus women with insomnia symptoms or sleep deprivation should have to work on their sleep. A lot of research is ongoing about finding the symptoms of sleep deprivation in pregnant women and how to improve sleep quality because this problem during pregnancy worsens and leaves its effects after pregnancy. Because women’s bodies change a lot during pregnancy, and they become somehow weak and not having enough power to control the disease. So sleep problems may result in blood pressure, cholesterol, and heart-related problems.
Sleeping Too Much is Also Not a Good Idea
While sleep deprivation has taken a lot of attention, sleeping more is also not good. Various online resources have claimed to sleep more. But this is not correct. This is just a myth. As per the studies, it has been said that sleeping more than 9 hours is considered more sleeping. A lot of research is still ongoing on more sleep, but it has been confirmed that more sleep is also not good for our health and has severe issues with our heart health. So it would help to sleep properly for 7-8 hours, not more than this or less.
Sleep Tips for People With Heart Problems
- Develop strategies for relaxation.
- Design a generous bedroom.
- Plan a consistent sleep schedule.
- Avoid negative influences on sleep.
So you should take care of the above tips; by following this, you will be able to improve your sleep cycle and get a proper deep sleep which will help you to fight sleep deprivation-related problems and also improve your heart’s health, blood pressure, high cholesterol, strokes related problems.
