As I write this, we just switched the clocks back one hour this past weekend as part of that usual fall ritual. “Gaining” an hour of sleep theoretically.
So I figured I would write something about one of my favorite topics. Sleep.
I am not implying that today’s election has ANYTHING to do with my disrupted sleep, but… 🙂
In short, sleep is far and away the most underrated thing you can focus on to improve your health. Sleep impacts your brain health, immune system, body fat percentage and now your heart health.
A recent study out of South Korea has demonstrated a clear connection between proper sleep and heart disease.
Specifically, people who had poor, inadequate or even too much sleep have an increased risk of artherosclerosis. The cause, it seems, is too much calcium in the coronary arteries – an early indicator of heart disease.
Now scientists can’t be 100% certain that the sleep issues directly cause the condition or if some other illness causes the poor sleep, BUT it is part of a growing body of evidence linking poor sleep and heart disease.
What I found interesting was the fact that people who got too much sleep (defined as 9 hours of more) had even MORE calcium in their arteries – up to 70% more than ‘good sleepers’.
The thing is, NO ONE I know sleeps more than 9 hours. I sure don’t. BUT, I do pay close attention to my bedtime and do what I can to hit a minimum of 6 or more hours each night. The reality is, we were designed for roughly 6-8 hours nightly.
The real “take away”? And I tell this to groups I speak to all the time…
If you have some type of poor sleeping pattern (too little or disrupted) you MUST find the cause ASAP. The connections are simply too powerful. Poor sleep can be a powerful contributor to declining brain health and a failing immune system!
Good enough reason to act on this info I think…
Good night and sleep well!