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Heart disease is one of the most common causes of death in the UK and around the world. But making just a few lifestyle changes could have a huge impact on your chances of developing coronary heart disease, and subsequently, heart failure or heart attacks.
The way you sleep may be having a large role to play in the health of your heart, scientists have revealed.
In particular, the length of time that you sleep for is crucial to protect against heart failure.
People with the healthiest sleeping patterns have a significantly lower risk of heart problems, they said.
‘Healthy’ sleep patterns included sleeping for between seven and eight hours each night.
There’s no definitive number of hours that everyone should sleep for every night.
But making sure you sleep get between seven and eight hours could lower your chances of heart failure by up to 42 percent, according to scientists at Tulane University, New Orleans.
However, it’s crucial that you combine your sleep duration with four other crucial sleeping habits.
“The healthy sleep score we created was based on the scoring of these five sleep behaviors,” said Dr Lu Qi, who worked on the research.
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“Our findings highlight the importance of improving overall sleep patterns to help prevent heart failure.”
Those with the healthiest sleeping patterns didn’t have any signs of insomnia or snoring.
They also didn’t feel sleepy the next day, and weren’t likely to doze off before bedtime.
People with sleep apnoea could also be at greater risk of developing heart failure, previous research has revealed.
Sleep apnoea causes stress hormones to be released in the body.
The hormones subsequently raise your heart rate and blood pressure, which has a direct impact on your chances of a heart-related health condition.
Heart failure is a serious long-term condition that tends to get worst over time.
It’s caused by the heart being unable to properly pump blood around the body.
Heart failure could be caused by coronary heart disease, warned the NHS.
Coronary heart disease describes where the arteries become clogged up with fatty deposits, which makes it increasingly difficult to pump blood around the body.
The best way to protect against heart disease is to eat a healthy, balanced diet, and to do regular exercise.
Everyone should aim to do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity every week.
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