Better sleep improves your health: especially your heart

One in 3 adults don’t get enough sleep, according to the American Heart Association. Most adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep, while teens and younger kids need even more.

Autumn is a good time to get back to good sleeping habits, especially now that we all set our clocks back an hour thanks to Daylight Saving Time, said Saroja Sripathy, MD, chief of sleep medicine at Kaiser Permanente Northern California.

Healthy sleep habits are important for your overall health. Studies show consistently poor sleep can increase the risk for obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and arterial plaque buildup, all of which are bad for the heart. And even one night of poor sleep can darken your mood and make it difficult to focus the next day.

Sripathy also said getting a good night’s rest is extremely beneficial for your heart: “There is less sleep disruption and more prospects for a healthy circadian rhythm.”

“We should try for seven hours of sleep every night consistently,” Sripathy said.

Consistency is the key: staying up until 4 a.m. one night and then sleeping 9 hours the next night won’t make up for the sleep you lost the previous night, she said.

Those who don’t sleep long enough or who wake up often can have a spike in their heart rates and blood pressure. This can eventually lead to cardiac events.

Sripathy recommends changing some of your bedtime behaviors to improve sleep:

• Limit electronic use, including no screens, 1 hour before bedtime.

• Have a consistent sleep and wake-up time. Go to sleep at the same time every night. Wake up at the same time in the morning.
• Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet.
• Avoid stimulating substances, such as caffeine, at night. Your last cup of coffee should be at least 6 hours before bedtime. Also avoid alcohol before going to sleep. Although it can make you sleepy, once it metabolizes, it will wake you up. Then it’s difficult to get back to sleep.
• Abstain from drinking liquids 2 hours before bedtime to reduce the need to use the bathroom during the night.