Cardiologists Top 3 Tips for a Stronger, Healthier Heart: Keeping your heart healthy is often talked about in terms of sleep and there is sound reason behind this Dr. Rigved Tadwalkar, MD, a board-certified consultant cardiologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center, says: “Adequate sleep enables the body to rest and repair itself, resetting hormone levels which affect blood pressure, inflammation and blood sugar levels–3 key factors in heart health.”
The American Heart Association should add “sleep” to Life’s Simple 7 measures for good cardiovascular health, suggested researchers in an article published March 2020 by Circulation. The AHA did so-and also included another measure: Life’s Essential 8 rules are here.
However, if you’re super-focused on your heart health–not a bad aim to shoot for; they say you can’t be too rich, thin or healthy-which sleeping related position is best? Experts on heart disease answer that question, with notes about some of the positions to avoid and tips for actually hitting the hay.
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Cardiologists Top 3 Tips for a Stronger
For Better Breath Sleep on Your Side
Sleep on your side—any side—is the advice frequently given for heart health because research has shown that it can manage the life-threatening effects of sleep apnea. Those with sleep apnea repeatedly start and stop breathing while they sleep— and if you’ve ever slept next to someone who has it, you know that it’s often accompanied by loud snoring as well.
Sleep apnea “is one of the most under-recognized cardiac risk factors in cardiology,” says Dr. Renato Apolito, MD, FACC, RPVI, Director, Medical Director Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory The Helen M. and John K. Schneider Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center. “It is associated with hypertension, a trial fibrillation, palpitations, fatigue and lack of restful sleep as it interferes significantly with the REM phase of sleep.”
Who needs that?! “Side-sleeping, rather than sleeping with your back to the air, is thought to keep the airway open and may enhance blood flow from your legs and lower body to your heart. Dr. Tadwalkar says,
People with sleep apnea should also avoid a few other sleep positions. “For someone who has sleep apnea and hasn’t been treated,” Dr. Salazar says, “sleeping on their back rather than the side they breastfeed from might cause the snoring or breath pause episodes to worsen because of gravity’s tendency to pull down on throat tissues blocking airways.” These breath pause episodes can decrease blood oxygen levels whilst asleep, lead to higher daytime blood pressures and contribute to increased incidences of a trial fibrillation in people still suffering from sleep apnea.
Make sure you don’t sleep on your stomach either. “Stomach sleeping is not the way to go although many do it without realizing the extent that they are blocking their airway or windpipe,” says Dr. Apolito. “This position is also poor for the health of your…neck and spine”.
Sleep on Your Back for discard Back Pain
Back pain is very-common, and your chances of getting it increase with age, according to CDC data. That pain can impede sleep—which isn’t great for your back (or heart).
“Ultimately, comfort and quality of sleep are more important,” says cardiologist Dr. Rohit Vulpuri, “The physician adds: `It is important to find a place where you can sleep peacefully all night without any distractions,” rather than attempting sleep that is not in accordance with a good night’s rest.
Nonetheless, there is a caveat: “If you have sleep apnea or chronic heartburn, side sleeping is generally recommended.”
Sleeping on your side with a pillow tucked between your knees can help relieve the pressure on your back. Nevertheless, if pain in the upper body affects your sleep and wakeful life, consult a doctor about other methods for relief.
“Beyond how to sleep, professional medical pain management is the key consideration,” says Dr. Apolito.
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Boost the brain power to sleep your side
Since the heart and brain work in tandem to boost wellness, sustaining both in tip-top shape is significant. Hence, here’s another reason cardiologists advocate slumbering on your flank: it keeps the organ in your noodle hale and, consequently, assists the heart.
“Studies propose that embracing a lateral slumbering stance may generally enhance the lymphatic framework of the intellect, a vital debris removal framework critical for neurological well-being,” Dr. Tadwalkar expresses. “The discussion regarding whether the left or correct side is preferable for the mind stays inconclusive; some examinations propose left-sided dozing as more proficient, while others locate no huge contrasts.”
Research led in 2015 by investigators at Stony Brook University in New York additionally discovered that dozing on the side rather than the back or stomach helped expel intellectual waste and could bring down the danger of creating neurological sicknesses, for example, Alzheimer’s.
Slumbering on your side, rather than your back or stomach, may all the more productively remove debris from the mind and along these lines assume a critical job in attempting to lessen the odds of creating sicknesses like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and different neurological issues, as per investigations directed at Stony Brook University
Protect your heart to sleep on your right side
Sleeping on your left side might help to reduce apnea induced heart problems and brain damage. There may be extra protection against heart damage in right-side sleeping than in sleeping left side.
“Sleeping on the right side can help people with heart failure as well as some cardiac arrhythmias,” Dr. Salazar says. “When researchers studied this, they found that lying on the left side changes the position of your heart within the chest–a result of gravity. This led not only to lower blood pressure and electrocardiogram changes; it also caused lower left ventricular pressure. Meanwhile when you lay down on your right side even so far as a person be propped up lying in bed ‘upright’, determined by hard measurement–the heart is held still behind the lungs and mediastinum.”
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For better digestion sleep on your left side
So if the burn wakes you at 3 a.m., skooch over to your left side and you’ll be snoozing again in no time.
“Sleeping on the left side not only is comfortable, but may also help with acid reflux, ” Dr. Vuppuluri says. “If you are lying on your left side, the acid will not flow up into the esophagus or pass through the lower esophageal sphincter into your stomach.”
Three tips for getting better sleep
- Exercise every day- Doctor Apolito adds, “Exercise every single day. At the same time, read something. Do a crossword puzzle. This kind of exercise will get your body and mind ready to sleep, help you get to sleep soundly every night.”
- Stay consistent with your bedtime- A regular bedtime and wake-up time (“including at weekends”), says Dr. Tadwalkar, can help regulate your body clock itself, leading to improved sleep quality. “If need be, unthinkably rise an hour later than usual, even on weekends. Resistance to oversleeping like this paves the way for stable sleep routines and puts you in control of your own destiny in terms of both health and future prospects with employment.”
- Make a relaxing bedtime routine- Dr. Tadwalkar would also recommend following a daily timetable. “Think about how you prepare for bed. And think ‘How do I unwind?’” “Avoid things that are revitalizing like screen-time before going to sleep. Instead, introduce tranquility into your life in the form of calming rituals such as having a hot cup of tea or telling jokes. Train both mind and body that it’s time for you to start shuttingdown.” Also discard the last drink before bedtime. “Alcohol can help relax you and make you drowsy but it interrupts deep sleep as well as REM or dream phases of sleep – often causing an unrestful awakening in middle night from which your body is unable to really recover,” Dr. Apolito notes.
