Can excessive or insufficient sleep hurt your heart?

Health experts have long emphasised the importance of getting a good night's sleep. If you get around 8 hours of sleep per night, you'll probably notice an improvement in your concentration and productivity. Sleep can also help improve your immune system, athletic performance, and mood.

According to Wakefit.co's Great Indian Sleep Scorecard (GISS) 2022, there will be a 57 per cent increase in Indians staying up late. According to the 5th edition of the Great Indian Sleep Scorecard, the pandemic has had the greatest impact on the sleep habits of people under the age of 18.

Since 2018, the GISS report has been tracking India's sleeping habits, collecting over 2 lakh responses from across the country. According to new research from the University of Colorado Boulder, getting too little — or too much — sleep can increase your risk of having a heart attack, even if you're healthy.

Furthermore, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, everyone — including people with a genetic predisposition to heart disease — can reduce their risk of a heart attack by getting six to nine hours of sleep per night. According to the researchers, this provides some of the strongest evidence to date that sleep duration is a key factor in heart health.

How do sleeping hours affect your heart?

Researchers studied 3,019 patients over the age of 45 who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a survey of U.S. households that assessed a wide range of health issues.

According to studies, people who get too little sleep are twice as likely to have a stroke or heart attack and 1.6 times more likely to have congestive heart failure. Those who reported sleeping for more than eight hours per night were twice as likely to have angina and 1.1 times more likely to have coronary artery disease.

Inadequate sleep has previously been linked to sympathetic nervous system hyperactivity, glucose intolerance, diabetes, and an increase in cortisol levels, blood pressure, resting heart rate, and inflammatory markers – all of which are linked to cardiovascular disease.

How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?

Sleep requirements differ from person to person. You may be able to get through the day with a couple of hours of sleep, or you may require 10 hours of sleep to function properly. The general consensus appears to be that most people require 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night, with less than six or seven hours causing harmful effects. Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 29 percent of adults sleep less than seven hours per night.

Those who have trouble sleeping on a regular basis should consult a sleep specialist. They can assist you in determining the source of your sleep problem and suggesting potential solutions.

Cognitive behavioral therapy, for example, can help with insomnia. Furthermore, lifestyle and the timing of certain behaviours, such as workouts combined with caffeine, food, and alcohol consumption, can cause sleep disruption.

Many health experts recommend keeping a sleep diary in which a person logs their daily sleep patterns. They can assist in the identification of any habits or factors that may be preventing people from getting the recommended 6 to 9 hours of sleep per night.

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