We’ve all been there — it’s 2 a.m., you’re clammy and flustered, legs twisted between the sheets. You have only a few hours before it’s time to get up and get ready for the day, but now you’re wide awake, your brain refusing to quiet down and let you fall back asleep.
Having an unrestful night of lousy sleep is common every once in a while. But consistently missing out on those 7 or so crucial hours of shut-eye raises your risk for various mental and physical conditions or symptoms, including hypertension (high blood pressure) and others that affect your heart health.
This may seem like common knowledge, but it’s not necessarily old news. It wasn’t until the summer of 2022 that the American Heart Association added sleep duration to its list of Life’s Essential 8 things people should do to improve their cardiovascular health — the umbrella term for how your heart and blood vessels function.
The good thing about sleep is that there are plenty of ways to improve it. While persistently poor sleep hygiene does leave you more vulnerable to disease, the impacts of getting inadequate sleep are typically cumulative, and you can establish new habits for improving sleep that work for you.
Here’s exactly how poor sleep affects your heart health and what you can do about it.
Lack of sleep raises your blood pressure (and stress level)
