Kilito Chan / Getty Images
Key Takeaways
Getting a hearty nights sleep can impact your cardiovascular health.
The researchers recommend tailoring how long you sleep to your age to get to avoid severe health consequences.
If youre over that, its not quite as beneficial.
Kilito Chan / Getty Images
Does Napping Count?
How Does Sleep Impact Heart Health?
Sleep has been this black box in cardiovascular data.
We havent understood it very well over the years, Weinberg said.
But it also has its own independent contributions to heart and brain health.
But if you arent sleeping soundly, it can only do so much.
TheCirculationreview tells the quantity story, Lloyd-Jones noted.
Quality of sleep is much harder to measure, he added.
And sleep quality and sleep duration dont always follow the same line.
People who can sleep well can get their body to relax; they are comfortable sleeping.
Those are good global markers of how your body is resting and repairing.
However, sleep efficiencya metric the researchers related most closely to qualitydeclined past age 40.
Lloyd-Jones recommends people incorporate physical activity to help tire themselves out during the day.
At night, he recommends people avoid caffeine, alcohol, and screen time too close to bed.
An occasional late night or early rise wont mess up your heart too much.
Anybodys going to have one night where things dont go well, Lloyd-Jones said.
However, its vital not to let occasional missed bedtimes become routine, Lloyd-Jones said.
Because the fewer nights you spend sleeping, the greater your risk for developing heart complications.
Making time for yourself is very important, Lloyd-Jones said.
What This Means For You
Sacrificing sleep can hurt your heart.
Doing your best to meet sleep guidelines for your age group can help stave off heart attack and stroke.
Published online June 29, 2022. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.060911
American Heart Association.Life’s essential 8.
World Health Organization.Cardiovascular diseases.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Heart disease facts.
