As Valentine’s day approaches, it’s usually a day in which roses and hearts come to mind. What better time to learn more about your actual heart. We need to remember to maintain a healthy and strong heart in order to lower any risks of underlying conditions. You can start by making sure you have a full night’s sleep.
How Sleep Impacts Your Heart Health
Sleep is a big contributor to a healthy heart. Sleep well is essential for the body to go through the needed sleep stages allowing your heart to recover from daytime strain. This sleep stage occurs during the non-rapid eye movement (NREM) stage. The heart becomes more stabilized during this sleep stage by lowering its rate; this lowers blood pressure and breathing, allowing the heart to recover and restore itself.1
Sleep deprivation can push the heart to become unhealthy and to start
creating plaque around the arteries, which limits oxygen levels in the blood for the heart and other organs. With sleep deprivation, because the body does not have the chance to restore itself fully during sleep, serious systemic issues can develop such as high blood pressure, heart attacks, and even stroke. Sleep breathing disorders can also create constant disruptions during sleep, resulting in chronic diseases that are potentially fatal.2
Getting enough sleep is essential for the restoration of the heart and the prevention of chronic illnesses.
Sleep Breathing Disorders Impact your Hearth Health
We know lack of sleep can cause clogged arteries as mentioned above. Limiting the flow of oxygen into the body also creates a major impact on the heart’s health if you have a sleep-related breathing disorder. The most common sleep-related breathing disorder is Obstructive Sleep Apnea 
(OSA). OSA happens when muscles and tissue on the back of the throat relax and the airway becomes blocked during sleep. During the time you stop breathing, the oxygen levels in the blood decrease, making it difficult to supply to the entire body.
Low oxygen levels strain the cardiovascular system. The body then indicates the heart to beat faster, resulting in high blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat. The stress and irregularity can lead to potential heart-attacks and death. 3
How to Improve Heart Health
First, is to get a full night’s sleep! Sleep deprivation is a factor in an unhealthy heart and can also create other health issues as well. The body needs the proper time to rest, restore and recover from daytime functions.
Now, to find out if there is a sleep-related breathing disorder present, you need to get screened and tested. SleepArchiTx provides a comfortable home sleep test to help determine if you might be suffering from a sleep disorder and its severity.
Insufficient oxygen intake by clogged arteries or OSA can be detrimental not only to the heart but to the entire body. SleepArchiTx’s oral appliance can help you breathe better during sleep. The oral sleep appliance is customized individually and helps address the sleep breathing disorder.
Proper sleep is the path to a healthy heart.
If you would like to learn more or have any questions, contact us at 888-777-3198 or reachus@sleeparchitx.com.
Sources
- https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/patient-caregiver-education/understanding-sleep
- https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/how-disrupted-sleep-may-lead-heart-disease
- https://www.thoracic.org/patients/patient-resources/resources/obstructive-sleep-apnea-and-heart.pdf