Getting enough quality sleep is an essential component of good heart and brain health. Sleep disorders cause sleep disruptions and make it difficult to get the sleep you need to stay healthy. In fact, sleep disorders have been linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases.
People who do not get enough sleep are also more likely to develop high blood pressure, which increases the risk of developing heart disease. Lack of sleep also promotes inflammation.
According to the American Heart Association, studies have found that most people need six to eight hours of sleep each day and that too little or too much can increase the risk of cardiovascular problems.
Restful sleep is paramount to living well with heart failure. For overall health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone get seven to nine hours of sleep each night. But for people living with heart failure, a good night's sleep may be only a dream.
Sleep Can Strengthen Your Heart
Not getting enough sleep can lead to heart health problems like high blood pressure or heart attacks. That's because lack of sleep can cause your body to release cortisol, a stress hormone that triggers your heart to work harder.
Oversleeping is associated with many health problems, including: Type 2 diabetes. Heart disease. Obesity.
Growing evidence suggests that poor sleep is linked to a host of health problems, including a higher risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.
Tiredness, fatigue
You may also feel sleepy after eating, feel weak in the legs when walking and get short of breath while being active. The heart can't pump enough blood to meet the needs of body tissues.
If you cough a lot, often feel weak, have lost your appetite, and need to urinate a lot at night, you might have symptoms of heart failure. Heart failure is a long-term condition that usually comes on slowly. However, it can develop suddenly, for instance, after a heart attack.
The non-REM stage of sleep is a time when your heart does not have to work so hard. About 80% of a full night's sleep is spent in this stage. During non-REM sleep, your heart rate, breathing and blood pressure all drop to levels below those that occur while you are awake.
In general, heart rate is slower during sleep than when a person is awake. However, heart rate also changes as a sleeper cycles through the different stages of sleep. In the first stages of light sleep, heart rate begins to slow. During deep sleep, the heart rate reaches its lowest levels.
Waking up early is associated with an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Europeans, according to a new UCL study looking at sleep and mortality from across different ethnic groups. All-cause mortality, as well as deaths from cancer and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) were investigated.
Inflammation can come from increased cortisol—a stress hormone—that changes when you're sleep-deprived. The inflammation raises your risk for arterial hypertension, heart disease and stroke. Meager sleep also increases heart rate and blood pressure, putting you at even higher risk for stroke.
Unusual swelling in the legs, feet, hands, or abdomen. A persistent cough or chest congestion (the cough may be dry or hacking) Increasing fatigue or a sudden decrease in your ability to do normal activities. A loss of appetite or nausea.
“Getting diagnosed with heart failure usually starts when you notice symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue, rapid or irregular heartbeat or swelling in the legs, ankles, feet or abdomen,” says Dr. Piña.
Checking your pulse
Taking a pulse is a very important part of heart health checks. It measures the number of heart beats per minute, assesses if the pulse is regular or not, and identifies the strength of the pulse. Your nurse or doctor may check your pulse, or you can check it yourself.
Although heart failure is a serious condition that progressively gets worse over time, certain cases can be reversed with treatment. Even when the heart muscle is impaired, there are a number of treatments that can relieve symptoms and stop or slow the gradual worsening of the condition.
Feeling tired all the time can be a symptom of heart failure, as well as of other conditions. Professor Newby says: “Many of my patients tell me they're tired, whether they've got heart failure or not, whether they've got angina or not! It's a difficult one, because it's so non-specific.”
Left Side or Right Side
It may reduce GERD and sleep apnea more than sleeping on your right side. The only exception is that people with congestive heart failure or heart palpitations might benefit from sleeping on their right sides. Heart palpitations worsen when you sleep on your left side.
Sleeping on the left side isn't a problem if you don't have underlying heart issues. But for people with congestive heart failure and other heart issues, it can cause discomfort and even breathing difficulties. If that sounds familiar, try turning to your right when you hit the sheets.