Are you clocking in six hours of sleep every night and think it’s sufficient? While 7 to 8 hours is recommended, many think rounding it down to 6 is enough to power through the next day, but is it really healthy?
Turns out cutting corners on sleep can actually be detrimental to your heart health. Dr Amit Kumar, associate director and head of interventional cardiology at Sarvodaya Hospital, Sector-8, Faridabad, confirmed, remarking that sleeping only six hours is not enough. This, over time, may cause sleep deprivation and, subsequently, adversely affect cardiovascular health.
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The cardiologist addressed that while one may appear ‘awake’ and less drowsy, it is still sleep deprivation. He said, “We all hear things like, ‘I can function fine on six hours.’ But being ‘awake’ and being healthy are not synonymous. Although we might be able to shun feeling drowsy, we might be damaging our hearts over the long term.”
Why is sufficient sleep important for heart?
While you may not feel drowsy if you somehow manage to get by with six hours of sleep, it puts strain on your heart, and over time, making this a habit can increase your risk of serious cardiovascular problems.
Dr Kumar highlighted the role of sleep in our body, which helps to ‘repair’ the system. He explained, “When we sleep, our bodies become ‘repairing’ machines, blood pressure drops, heart rate decreases, and stress hormones fall so that the cardiovascular system can get a break. During sleep, our tissues are being repaired, inflammatory processes are decreasing, and blood vessels are healing.”
Now, what happens when you sleep for less than seven hours daily? You are disrupting this delicate ‘repair cycle’ which makes your heart work without any ‘recovery.’
The cardiologist elaborated, “When deprived of adequate sleep, like sleeping less than seven hours for many nights, the heart is forced to work with less recovery, over a period of time, the heart is exposed to increased stress, which may lead to increased risk of high blood pressure or an irregular heartbeat and damage to the arteries.”
4 consequences of sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation doesn’t stay dormant as a low-risk issue like morning grogginess or itchy eyes. Over time, consistently skimping on sleep builds up to something hazardous. Soon, this puts serious strain on your overall wellbeing, extensively affecting many bodily functions, from hormonal balance to heart health.
Dr Amit Kumar listed these 4 potential health hazards from sleep deprivation:
1. High blood pressure: Sleep deprivation causes the body to remain in a fight-or-flight mode, thus it is difficult to reduce blood pressure at night or allow the heart to relax after staying active during the day.
2. Increased inflammation: When a person is sleep-deprived, they suffer from inflammation in their blood vessel, which is the number one cause of heart attacks.
3. Hormonal changes: With insufficient sleep, stress hormones increase, and hormones that control hunger are disrupted. This leads to weight gain, which puts stress on the heart.
4. Atrial fibrillation: Lack of sleep can also mess with the electrical signals of the heart, which puts a person at an increased risk of developing arrhythmia.
How much sleep is actually needed?
So now that six hours have been ruled out, it’s time, what’s the appropriate sleeping duration then? As per the cardiologist, most adults require seven to nine hours of sleep every night for good health. But this is not where it ends. There’s more to it. Sleep’s restorative effects depend on many other factors, too.
Dr Kumar added, “ Remember that the quality of sleep matters as much as the quantity. Deep and REM sleep cycles help the body repair itself. Getting to bed at the same time, reducing screen time before bed and making sure your bedroom is dark and quiet can go a long way toward improving sleep quality.”
If you are still not convinced about why just six hours of sleep is not enough, let’s get to numbers for a reality check. The cardiologist revealed that the heart is ‘always busy’ beating over a whopping 100,000 times a day. Sleep gives it adequate recovery time. While yes, you may not be groggy by sleeping only 6 hours, but your Dr Kumar warned that ‘heart is silently paying the price.’
Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.