Do you tend to spend late nights at the office, have a job that requires pulling all-nighters, work night shift or are a student who tends to cram one night before the exams? Well, it might be the worst habit you could have. Apart from depriving you of essential sleep, these practices also sap your body, causing great damage to your health. What’s more, this habit could also damage your heart, putting you at greater risk of suffering from heart disease. In this post Dr Amar Singhal, HOD, Cardiology, Delhi based Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute tells you why sleep is so essential for heart health.
Why you need at least seven to eight hours of sleep
We often tend to associate sleep with laziness, but did you know that when you sleep your body actually repairs all the damage done, allows your organs a little rest and helps release essential hormones setting your body’s function on track? Yes, to explain further, here are few health benefits sleep has:
- Adequate sleep improves memory. Your brain will pick up things such as a new language or activity easily after a good snooze.
- After a good night’s rest your brain also tends to be more creative, so if you have an important project to complete plan your activities such that you get enough rest before you start work.
- It has been seen that athletes perform better after a good night’s sleep. This is associated with the fact that when one sleeps the body rests and repairs, thereby allowing a person to be more agile and athletically inclined when they wake up.
- In case of children, it has been seen that adequate sleep helps improve their attention and learning abilities, helping them perform better at school. In contrast, children who have lesser hours of sleep every night, tend to show ADHD-like symptoms, get more hyperactive, impulsive and inattentive.
- Want to lose weight? Get enough sleep. It is a proven fact that if you are dieting and are well-rested you will lose weight faster. When you stay up late, the body produces hormones that give rise to cravings for junk food, sending your diet completely off-track.
- Lack of sleep contributes to depression and anxiety, therefore sleeping well will make you less irritable and ensure overall well-being.
Why is sleep important for the heart?
Sleep has a number of benefits for the body, including the heart. Not only does sufficient sleep help lower levels of C-reactive protein, which is associated with heart risk (statistically C-reactive protein levels have been found to be higher in people who get less than six hours of sleep a night), but it also keeps stress at bay. Apart from that, a good eight hours of sleep helps keep your blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check and allows your heart rate to drop, so that the organ has a little time to recuperate. On the other hand, insufficient sleep can increase insulin resistance leading to a greater risk of type 2-diabetes and heart disease. Also, shortened phases of sleep messes up your appetite making you hungry and prone to binge on unhealthy foods. This is especially true for people with heart disease, who must sleep for at least six to eight hours in a day to prevent further heart related complications.
You may also like to read:
- 4 sure signs you need to quit your job!
- Workplace stress can raise your diabetes risk
- People who work longer smoke more
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