Guard Your Heart with Quality Sleep
Still feeling tired when you wake up in the morning? And craving naps during the day?
If you're sleeping long enough, your sleep quality may be the problem. And that's bad news, because studies show that disrupted sleep can raise the risk of clots -- those dangerous blobs of congealed blood that have a knack for blocking blood flow to major organs.
Clot Connection
Just how might poor sleep raise the risk of harmful blood clots? Researchers still need to pinpoint the exact cause, but studies suggest that surges in nervous-system activity -- found in patients with sleep apnea, which causes disrupted sleep -- may provoke excessive clotting. And that could set the stage for a heart attack, stroke, or other dangerous condition.
Take Back the Night
A daytime doze may protect your heart. (Here's why.) Sleeping better might help it, too. Here are the key steps to sleeping soundly through the night.
RealAge Benefit:
Reducing your risk of sleep apnea by losing excess weight can make your RealAge 3 to 9 years younger.
Association between polysomnographic measures of disrupted sleep and prothrombotic factors. von Kanel, R., Loredo, J. S., Ancoli-Israel, S., Mills, P. J., Natarajan, L., Dimsdale, J. E., Chest 2007 Mar;131(3):733-739.
