A good mattress offers a perfect balance of required comfort and support, keeping the natural spinal alignment and body posture in place. A National Sleep Foundation survey finds that 92 percent of people say a comfortable mattress is important to a good night’s sleep. Besides a good mattress, there are 5 other ways to improve one’s sleep and protect your heart.
Sleep is something all humans do—most not very well,” says Johns Hopkins neurologist and sleep specialist Rachel E. Salas, M.D. When you don’t get enough good-quality sleep for any reason, whether because of an untreated sleep disorder or simply not getting enough sleep, you raise your odds of developing many conditions that can lead to or worsen heart disease.
Poor sleep can cause excess weight gain, for example. “If you’re tired, you’re less active. Too little sleep also affects the hormones ghrelin and leptin, which influence appetite and metabolism,” Salas says. “So even if you eat right and exercise, you can gain weight if you have too little sleep or have an undiagnosed, untreated sleep disorder.”
Sometimes the effects of poor sleep quality are less direct and obvious. Poor sleep can impact mood, which affects work and home life, and can lead to or worsen anxiety and depression, which are risk factors for heart disease. Poor sleep may lead to erectile dysfunction, another common relationship stressor, she adds.
Two common sleep disorders, insomnia and sleep apnea, can lead to other heart risks when left undiagnosed or untreated. Sleep apnea is linked to a host of heart risks, including diabetes, hypertension, arrhythmia, obesity, stroke, and heart failure. A curved pillow as Tempur Millenium will assist a person with sleep apnea. Tempur sleeping accessories as leg spacer, multi pillow, are highly recommended too to assist with conditions as these.
Most people need seven to nine hours of good-quality sleep per night. “Even an extra 15 minutes can make a huge difference,” Salas says.