Do you want to do everything you can to keep your heart healthy? You should get a good night’s sleep.
The American Heart Association (AHA) has added sleep to its cardiovascular health checklist, which includes eight factors that people can change to stay healthy: diet, exercise, tobacco use, weight, cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, and now, go to sleep. The AHA published a new checklist called “Life’s Essential 8” in the magazine circulation An older checklist created in 2010 was called “Life’s Simple 7.”
“Sleep health seems to be directly related to cardiovascular health, not just other things that affect heart health,” says Michael Granner, director of the university’s sleep and health research program. A professor at the Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, he helped create the new AHA checklist.
“Sleep makes a difference, and research shows that just by improving your sleep, you can improve aspects of your heart health.” Grandner says.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most adults need at least seven hours of sleep each night. More than one-third of adults under 65 get less sleep than that, according to CDC data.
According to Granner, people who work less than six hours a night have a higher risk of obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and poor mental and cognitive health. And those who sleep more than nine hours a night are healthier and less likely to die early, Granner adds.
Life’s Essential 8 Checklist
The AHA’s new Life’s Essential 8 checklist rates people on a 100-point scale, with average scores on all eight items indicating improved cardiovascular health. In general, average scores below 50 indicate poor heart health, while scores between 50 and 79 indicate moderate heart health and scores above 80 indicate high cardiovascular health. There is an online tool to check your score.
According to a study published in the same issue, only one in five adults have high levels of cardiovascular disease. circulation. This study shows that more than three out of every five people have moderate cardiovascular disease.
In addition to adding sleep to the checklist for the first time, the AHA has made several other key changes to Life’s Essential 8 that were not present in the previous checklist. These include:
- diet A heart-healthy diet for individuals is now rated based on how closely it adheres to the Mediterranean-style eating pattern. Sixteen questions are used to determine how often people consume olive oil, vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, dairy products and whole grains each week.
- Effects of nicotine The checklist includes using e-cigarettes for the first time instead of assuming nicotine exposure comes from traditional fuel cigarettes.
- cholesterol Instead of looking at total cholesterol, the checklist now includes only bad blood fats, such as triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
- blood sugar There is a new option to look at blood test results that show hemoglobin A1C levels, which reflect average blood sugar levels over about three months.
No changes were made to how the checklist assesses exercise, blood pressure, or body weight. People with 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week score higher in cardiovascular health; blood pressure below 120/80 mm Hg; and a body mass index (BMI) of 18.5 to 24.9.
Tips for a good night’s sleep
Adults need seven to nine hours of sleep each night to score high on the new sleep checklist. Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD, lead author of the 2016 AHA Guidelines for Sleep Duration and Quality, says: “There is some wiggle room, and people should be within that range for optimal heart health.” may fall into place. The Sleep Center of Excellence at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City.
“Adults should try to get at least seven hours of sleep a night, but there’s no reason to stress about getting a little less or a little more,” says Dr. St. Onge.
Deviating too far from that range, however, can increase the risk of several markers of heart disease, including obesity, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, according to 2016 AHA guidelines that helped inform the new checklist.
If you feel rested and alert in the morning, you’re probably getting enough sleep, especially if you’re at or close to the recommended hours, St. Onge says.
“A person may feel better on less than seven hours of sleep, but that doesn’t mean other aspects of their health that can’t be ‘felt,’ such as high blood glucose or high blood pressure, aren’t affected,” St. Kaida says. “So while there is some wiggle room in the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep, I wouldn’t recommend going too far.”
says Kristen Knutson, a sleep researcher and associate professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
“If someone isn’t sleeping well, there are several strategies to improve sleep, such as avoiding caffeine and alcohol, maintaining a consistent bedtime routine, keeping your bedroom comfortable for sleep—dark, quiet, cool, and comfortable—and providing yourself with calming activities. allowing to pass. waking and sleeping, “Dr. Knutson advises.
If these methods don’t help, talk to your doctor, says Knutson.
“Incorporating sleep health into the new AHA measure is a powerful message and endorsement of the importance of sleep for cardiovascular and overall health and well-being,” Knutson says. “I hope sleep becomes a standard topic of conversation between patients and doctors in the clinic.”