When it’s bedtime, you might not feel sleepy even after you turn the TV off. So, you stay up. You browse Tribel; Facebook; Snapchat. Finally, at about 12:30 in the morning, your partner comes out, with a sleep-creased face. “Why aren’t you in bed yet? You have to be up before six to go to work!”
Pulled out of an entrancing Facebook story, you growl, “I’m not sleepy!”
*Insert the sound of a record player’s needle scratching over a vinyl album.* Hold on right there. You’re going to get less than six hours of sleep this morning (yes, morning). And your whole body needs a full night of healthy sleep to regenerate and repair cells. This includes your heart. Let’s explore your body’s need. . . need for sleep.
Why Sleep is Now a Part of a Health Regimen
The American Heart Association has a checklist of habits we need to stick to for good heart health. Healthy diet, good level of exercise, not smoking, controlling diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol, staying at a healthy weight. . . and now, getting enough sleep every night. “But, why? I’ve always gotten along on less. I’ve never needed eight hours of sleep.” Think again. Even though you think you can “get along” on five or six hours of sleep a night, your heart health will suffer. That’s “will,” not “may.”
Have you ever asked your doctor why you can’t sleep more hours in a night? Has your doctor ever asked you about your nighttime habits before you go to bed? “Nighttime habits? What do you mean?” I’m talking about keeping a bright screen in front of your face in the hour before you should go to bed. Your smartphone, tablet and even your TV emit what’s called “blue light,” which messes with your circadian rhythms. Your circadian rhythms are those sleep-wake patterns which make you feel sleepy — or wakeful.
Blue light is environmentally friendly, but it’s not great for our health. Guess what puts out that blue light? All our electronics! Your phone, tablet and TV. “Okay. So, how does that affect my heart’s health?” Blue light slows your body’s release of melatonin, a hormone which helps you to sleep better. While any kind of light has this effect, blue light is especially good at suppressing your melatonin release. (Ah-hah! See what I told you?) Researchers at Harvard carried out an experiment, blue light and green light. Blue light suppressed melatonin for twice as long as green light. (Blue light suppressed this hormone for 3 hours while green light did so for 1.5 hours.) “Oh. OH! Wow, I never knew that.” Not enough people do. Yes, you can wear glasses which block blue light — but they also block other light colors, too. (Besides, do you want your kids giving you funny looks and asking why you’re wearing sunglasses inside at night?)
Things that Mess with a Good Night of Sleep
Sleep apnea, where snoring makes you stop breathing, then wakes you up is one major culprit. Insomnia is another one. Maybe you should ask your doctor why you can’t get to sleep until very late. That could be insomnia. Another condition is called “restless leg syndrome.” This one makes you feel like bugs are crawling all over your legs. When you get that sensation, your legs jerk involuntarily — and that wakes you up. If it happens several times a night, well. . . there goes a good night’s sleep, right out the window.
When you can’t get a good night of sleep, this messes with the hormones in your body. Your stress hormones (hello, cortisol) go up. When this happens, you can develop insulin resistance and, even worse, diabetes. Now, you see why I’m saying a bad night’s sleep isn’t good for you?
If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea and you already have a metabolic disorder, like diabetes, this pushes your risk of heart attack and stroke up. It triples your risk!
“Well, okay, but you still haven’t talked about going to sleep late and getting up late.” Glad you asked! By going to sleep late and getting up late, you do get your hours of sleep. But (isn’t there always one of those?) you also mess up your body’s circadian rhythm. This messes with the balance of hormones inside your body.
Staying up too late also introduces other risks. Have you ever decided, “Hey, I’m hungry.” Then you ate half the chocolate cake you made, all in one sitting. Has this ever happened to you? Do you know what happens when you finally do get to bed? You haven’t worked off those extra, unneeded calories. You see weight gain. And, if this goes on long enough, you actually begin to see your weight and body mass index pushing into the “obese” range. That’s definitely bad for your heart health. “Oh, wow!”
Bad Heart Health and Bad Sleep
Oh, yes, this is definitely a two-way street. If you have a bad heart, this can lead to experiencing bad sleep. This leads to a cycle of bad heart health → bad sleep → more bad heart health. “My God! How do I make that stop?”
Good Sleep Hygiene
Change your habits in the hours before you go to bed. Put the phone and tablet down and turn the TV off. Read a physical book, instead. If you have to keep the phone close by, at least change the light setting to a warmer one about half an hour before you go to bed. Warmer light makes it easier for your body’s circadian rhythm to work as it should.
When you get a healthy night’s sleep, your body’s hormones work to support your metabolism. You may be surprised to see that your thinking is more clear and your mood is actually better. By following your body’s natural circadian rhythms, you lower your risk of insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Developing healthy eating habits also helps your heart.
Healthy adults should sleep between seven and nine hours every night; children younger than five years need 10 to 16 hours of sleep every night (this does include their daily naps); children between 6 and 12 need 9 to 12 hours of sleep every night; and teenagers need a good 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night. Take their devices away and keep them put away. They already want to wake up later on school mornings and getting enough sleep might end this habit.
How to Develop Good Sleep Habits
You need to do this every night. So does every one of your family members. Sleep in a dark, quiet room. Go to sleep at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning. Like I pointed out earlier, turn the TV off and leave electronics in another room overnight. If you have sleep apnea, use your CPAP or BPAP machine every night. Don’t drink alcohol or caffeine later in the day. This could be at about 7 p.m. And don’t eat or snack late at night.
Sleep Critique
Look carefully at your sleep habits. Do you sleep regularly or go to bed late and wake up late? Do you snore and wake up tired? Are your bedrooms dark and quiet? Do you leave devices in a different room? Are you exercising enough every day? Finally, do you sleep well? If you answered ‘yes’ to every question, no worries. If you answered ‘no,’ call your doctor for an appointment. Bad sleep is, to use a local phrase, no bueno. Healthier sleep habits lead to better heart health.
I have had my own bad sleep hygiene habits. I just adjusted my phone’s nighttime screen brightness (it’s a newer phone). Before my heart attack, I was delaying bedtime until 11:15. “I’m just not sleepy yet.” Well, when I got to the hospital, I found out that “bedtime” was when the nurses set it. Okay. So, I changed my habits. Before I go to bed, the TV is turned off. My phone charges in a different room. No caffeine and no alcohol late at night. I stop eating by 6 or 7 at night.
Do you really want the nurses to re-set your bedtime? Or do you want to keep control of that before you have a heart attack? The control is in your hands. Please use it wisely.