Heart health: Healthy heart needs a good sleep
Post by on Tuesday, August 10, 2021
Heart is a vital organ to be taken care of and Sleep is essential to a healthy heart. That’s because deep sleep decreases the blood pressure and heart rate to the extent that keep us fit and healthy.
Till recent times Sleep was often an overlooked key to a healthy heart. But now its proven that regardless of age, weight or smoking habits, people who are sleep deprived are at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease.
During normal, healthy sleep, blood pressure drops by around 10 to 20% . This is known as nocturnal dipping which plays a crucial role in cardiovascular health.
Poor sleep, whether from a lack of sleep or sleep disruptions, is associated with non-dipping, meaning that a person’s blood pressure doesn’t go down at night which can cause other diseases.
Sleep deprivation heightens the risk of heart attacks. Its believed that people sleeping less than six hours per night had a 20% higher chance of heart attack. While the NREM sleep stage helps the heart slow down and recover, REM sleep involves heightened stress and activity. Insufficient sleep can throw off the balance of these stages, increasing heart attack risk. Even the Sleep interruptions have also been linked to the potential for heart attacks.
So in order to keep heart healthy sleep well.
Dr Nasir Shamas,
Consultant Physician, JLNM hospital Srinagar
