Find out why to have a healthy heart, you need to sleep very well every night

Not sleeping or doing it for too long, can bring risks to the mental and physical health of people. In addition, this can also lead to difficulties in keeping the heart healthy.

Leer en español: Este es el beneficio más grande de dormir bien

A research that was presented at the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology held in the city of Munich, Germany, from August 25 to 29, established a relationship between the time we sleep and the possibility of suffering from some type of cardiovascular disease.

To arrive at this relationship, we used a statistical tool that combined the results of different studies that occurred during the last 9 years.

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What did the study consist of?

The comparison between three groups of people was made to arrive at the results. One of the groups slept less than six hours a day, another that did it in an average of between 6 and 8 hours that was part of the control group and a third one that did it for more than 8 hours.

The researchers came to the conclusion that people who sleep less and also those who do so for longer hours are more likely to suffer from a stroke or some type of coronary heart disease.

Study participants who slept less than 6 hours per night, had an 11% chance of having a stroke while those who slept more than 8 hours increased those chances to 33%. It was also concluded that these people had more chances of suffering cardiovascular problems in the near future.

In this regard, Dr. Epameinondas Fountas, who belongs to the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in Athens, Greece and who was the author of the study states that " Our findings suggest that sleeping too much or too little can be bad for the heart ." More research is needed to clarify exactly why, but we do know that sleep influences biological processes such as glucose metabolism, blood pressure, and inflammation, all of which have an impact on cardiovascular disease. "

"We spend a third of our lives sleeping, but we know little about the impact of this biological need on the cardiovascular system," he concludes.

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What to do to have a healthy heart?

Although according to the study, sleeping between 7 and 8 hours is very important to have a healthy heart, it is not the only thing that should be done. There are certain tips and guidelines to keep in mind that you should follow every day to achieve better cardiovascular health:

• Perform aerobic exercises three or four times a week for 30 minutes.
• Maintain a healthy lifestyle and quit smoking.
• Eat a balanced diet with several servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
• Add whole grains and foods containing Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids to the diet.
• Avoid stress by doing activities that are pleasurable.
• Keep a healthy weight.
• Work in a quiet environment

Having a healthy heart means not only changing your lifestyle, but you also need to sleep the necessary number of hours as indicated by the study.

LatinAmerican Post | Marcela Antonacci

Translated from: 'Este es el beneficio más grande de dormir bien'