The American Heart Association wants you to know that good sleep is one of the most important things you can do to protect your heart health.
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The background: The American Heart Association (AHA) has identified eight key elements that really help your heart health. The idea is if you do well on these eight elements, then you’re doing a great job taking care of your heart health.
The usual: This includes stuff like not smoking or vaping. You should eat a Mediterranean diet, you should exercise. You should try to keep your glucose levels low, keep your weight low, keep your cholesterol and blood pressure low.
What’s new: Now, the AHA has included SLEEP to the list! The AHA wants you to get about 7-9 hours of sleep daily, and they want to make sure that you’re getting good quality sleep.
The Doctor’s Expert Insights:
The big picture: GOOD SLEEP is now considered by researchers and scientists to be a good predictor of good heart health. And more importantly, you need to understand that you can take steps today that prevent disease in your future.
Doctor’s quote: As physicians, we can’t state this enough. You really need to pay attention to this new sleep metric because it affects not only your quality of life, but the quality of life of every other person on earth!
If you continue to have problems sleeping, you should talk to your doctor about some undiagnosed sleep conditions, such as sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome.
Take home message: Please try to sleep 6 or 7 hours a night, keep yourself hydrated, try to sleep well, and your heart will thank you for it!
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Content Reviewed & Approved by Dr. Puja