Can getting fewer than 7-9 hours of sleep each night put you at risk of heart disease and other cardiovascular problems? Based on the research we have so far, it’s a strong yes. 

It’s no longer a point of debate. We are now pretty sure that there is a strong link between sleep deficiency and poor cardiovascular health. 

Sleep is so important for heart health that the American Heart Association recently added it to its checklist of essential factors for cardiovascular health. Other factors in the list include exercise, diet, blood pressure and nicotine exposure.  

Cardiovascular Problems Caused By Lack of Sleep

People who sleep for less than 6 hours each night tend to have higher incidences of heart attacks, coronary heart disease, stroke, atrial fibrillation (irregular and very fast heartbeat that can cause blood clots) and high blood pressure among other cardiovascular problems. 

And it’s not just about heart problems. Poor sleep is directly linked to other serious health issues including diabetes type 2, dementia, and cancer. 

So there are plenty of reasons to take your sleep seriously. It’s not a luxury, no matter what the hustle and grind culture says. It is a necessity for good health and a long life. 

3 Ways Lack of Sleep Affects Heart Health 

So we know that not getting the right amount of shut eye screws with your heart. But exactly how does that happen? There are three main ways sleep deficiency affects heart health. 

1. Higher Blood Pressure 

Hypertension or high blood pressure is one of the biggest risk factors in the development of heart diseases. 

Excessively high blood pressure damages arteries, making it harder for blood to flow to the heart, which increases the risk of heart disease. As the arteries get narrower, they can get clogged or completely blocked, resulting in stroke and heart attack. 

If you have high blood pressure, it means your heart is working a lot harder than usual. At some point, the increased workload becomes too much and you experience heart failure where the heart becomes unable to supply blood to the rest of the body.  

Lack of sleep raises blood pressure. The more sleep deprived you are, the higher your blood pressure gets. 

This happens because lack of sleep increases the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, our fight or flight system. It keeps you in ‘flight’ mode. This elevates the level of stress hormones, which in turn increase blood pressure. 

Chronic sleep deprivation keeps your blood pressure elevated, which eventually damages your blood vessels and leads to heart problems. 

2. Obesity and Weight Gain 

Not getting adequate sleep makes it harder to maintain a healthy weight for a bunch of reasons. 

One of them is that lack of sleep causes the hunger hormone, ghrelin, to go up. This makes you hungrier and increases your appetite. You also tend to crave unhealthy foods full of sugar and fat. 

If you are staying up late at night, you are likely to snack more, another possible cause for weight gain. Sleep deprivation also causes impaired decision making, which is probably one reason why we tend to choose unhealthy foods when we’ve not slept well. We are experiencing a reduced capacity to make good choices. 

Poor sleep also means less physical exercise, which makes it easier to add on the pounds. 

There are several ways obesity contributes to cardiovascular problems. For one, it causes your blood pressure to go up. And as we’ve discussed, hypertension is a precursor to heart diseases. 

Secondly, it causes increased inflammation in the body. Chronic inflammation has long been linked to heart disease.

Third, weight gain causes a spike in bad cholesterol (LDL). LDL causes blood vessels to clog, which increases the risk of heart failure, heart attack and stroke. 

3. High Blood Glucose

In addition to spiking blood pressure, researchers have found that lack of sleep also causes your blood sugar to go up. In fact, poor sleep habits are linked to the development of diabetes type 2. 

Sleeping less than 6 hours a night causes an increase in insulin resistance, which allows blood glucose to rise unchecked. There are several possible explanations for this. 

As we said earlier, not getting enough sleep raises the level of stress hormones like cortisol. Over time, chronically elevated cortisol interferes with insulin function and can lead to insulin resistance. Poor sleep also contributes to weight gain, which can also cause blood glucose to rise. 

There’s also the diet factor. Not sleeping well is often correlated to poor eating habits. You tend to eat more simple carbohydrates that raise your blood sugar. 

So what does blood sugar have to do with heart disease?

It all comes back to blood vessels. Consistently high blood glucose damages blood vessels as well as the nerves that control your heart. This affects blood flow and can lead to heart problems. 

Final Thoughts

It often worries me a lot that many people don't take sleep as seriously as they should. We could prevent so many diseases or manage them better if we could all try and get 7-9 hours of sleep each night. 

Do whatever you need to do to improve your sleep quantity and quality, whether it’s setting a better sleep routine, getting better quality sheets that soothe you to sleep or exercising more.