It’s no secret that sleep is important—essential, in fact, to our health. Not only does adequate rest allow the body to repair itself and re-energize, but studies show that insufficient sleep is associated with poor cardiovascular outcomes. Sleep influences heart function, blood pressure regulation, and heart disease risk.

Adults require 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night. Here’s why sleep is crucial for your heart, what happens when you’re not rested, and tips to catch the Z’s you need. Plus, we’ll address sleep apnea and heart health. 

Why Sleep is Essential for Heart Health

We may be unconscious, but our bodies are hard at work undergoing repair and maintenance while we sleep. Your heart rate slows, your blood pressure drops and your body enters recovery mode, reducing the strain on your cardiovascular system.

Here’s how getting consistently restful sleep benefits your heart: 

• Regulates blood pressure: When sleep is insufficient, blood pressure remains elevated for longer periods, increasing the risk of hypertension.
• Reduces inflammation: Chronic inflammation is a key driver of heart disease, and poor sleep fuels inflammation. Adequate rest helps regulate immune responses and lowers inflammation markers.
• Supports metabolic health: Sleep is vital to glucose metabolism and appetite regulation. Poor sleep can promote insulin resistance, cravings, and unintentional weight gain—raising the risk of diabetes and obesity, factors in heart disease. 
• Boosts mood and energy. Quality sleep enhances mood stability and mental clarity, reducing stress and anxiety, and indirectly supports heart health by lowering cortisol.
• Supports overall disease prevention: Research shows that well-rested individuals have a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, and metabolic disorders compared to those with chronic sleep deprivation.

When You’re Not Sleeping: Sleep Apnea and Heart Health

Improving your sleep is one of the most direct ways to support heart health, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy. 

Everyone struggles from time to time, whether you’re up late trying to finish work or can’t relax due to congestion or anxiety. However, certain conditions can make it challenging to get rest on a routine basis. For instance, sleep apnea and heart health are greatly intertwined.

When you have sleep apnea, breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, causing oxygen levels to drop. These repeated oxygen disruptions lead to oxidative stress, damaging blood vessels and encouraging inflammation.

Oxidative stress from sleep apnea affects the heart in three key ways:

• Atherosclerosis (plumbing issue): Oxygen deprivation triggers inflammation and damages arteries, accelerating plaque buildup and increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
• Atrial fibrillation (AFib) & arrhythmias (electrical issue): Frequent oxygen drops and sleep disruptions can alter the heart’s electrical signals, increasing the likelihood of irregular heartbeats like AFib.
• Heart failure (pump issue): Over time, the stress of sleep apnea weakens the heart’s ability to pump efficiently, raising the risk of heart failure.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common form of sleep apnea, occurring when throat muscles relax and block airflow. OSA significantly raises the risk of hypertension, AFib, heart failure, and stroke due to poor oxygen circulation and increased stress.

Sleep Apnea Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Many people with sleep apnea are unaware they have it, as symptoms occur during sleep, such as loud snoring, gasping or choking, morning headaches, trouble concentrating during the day, hard-to-control blood pressure, or excessive daytime sleepiness. 

If you think you may have sleep apnea, proper diagnosis is key. This is typically done with a sleep study (polysomnography) at home or in a sleep lab, which measures breathing patterns, oxygen levels, and disruptions.

Once sleep apnea is diagnosed, your provider can recommend an appropriate treatment plan. This often includes using a CPAP machine at night to keep your airway open and provide continuous oxygen delivery. 

Sleeping on your side may also help, though some may also require dental devices or surgical procedures. Lifestyle changes are also important, like exercising regularly, not drinking alcohol, and improving nutrition to help achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

What About Insomnia? 

While sleep apnea disrupts breathing, insomnia is another disorder that impacts heart health. Chronic insomnia—difficulty falling or staying asleep—raises stress hormone levels, increases inflammation, and is linked to a higher risk of hypertension and heart disease. 

Addressing insomnia through good sleep hygiene, stress management, and, if needed, medical treatment can improve both sleep quality and heart health. 

If you suspect you have a sleep disorder, talk to your doctor about getting tested. Better sleep could save your heart.

How Sleep Deprivation Harms the Heart

Even a night or two of poor sleep can have temporary negative health effects, but when it’s ongoing, your body operates in a heightened state of stress. This makes your heart work harder and affects cardiovascular wellness by: 

• Increasing your stress hormones: Cortisol and adrenaline spikes caused by inadequate sleep keep your body in fight-or-flight. Over time, this increases blood pressure, promotes inflammation, and raises heart disease risk. 
• Makes healthy lifestyle habits more difficult: Sleep deprivation disrupts hunger hormones and can trigger high-calorie, ultra-processed food cravings. Plus, it’s hard to find motivation to work out when you’re not rested. 
• Affecting your heart rate variability (HRV): HRV measures the variation in time between heartbeats, a key indicator of heart health. Poor sleep lowers HRV, signaling higher stress levels and an increased susceptibility to cardiovascular disease. 

6 Sleep Hygiene Habits for a Healthy Heart

Habits to improve your sleep routine also benefit your heart health by improving blood pressure control, lowering stress and inflammation, and allowing for adequate rest and repair. 

If you’re not consistently getting 7-8 hours of good sleep per night, addressing sleep hygiene habits is an important first step. Even if you’re struggling with sleep apnea and heart concerns, little changes can make a big difference. Consider some that feel realistic to you and build from there.

1. Maintain a consistent sleep-wake schedule

Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day helps regulate your body’s internal clock (called your circadian rhythm), supporting normal heart rhythm and overall cardiovascular function. For example, this might look like a 10 PM-6 AM sleep schedule.

2. Limit caffeine and alcohol

Caffeine can make it harder to fall asleep, so it’s best to cut it off before noon, especially if you’re caffeine-sensitive. Alcohol may disrupt deep sleep, leading to fragmented rest and strain on your heart.

3. Follow a relaxing bedtime routine

Rather than scrolling your phone in bed, try a guided meditation or reading to help calm your nervous system, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep.

4. Exercise regularly

Moderate physical activity during the day promotes deeper sleep cycles, reduces stress, and improves heart health. However, intense workouts too close to bedtime may have the opposite effect.

5. Manage your stress

We all experience stress, but how you respond to it matters. Chronic stress raises cortisol levels, making it harder to sleep. Practicing deep breathing, journaling, or stretching can help you relax and support a healthier heart.

6. Optimize your nutrition

Eating a balanced diet rich in nutrient-dense foods, like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes, and other lean proteins helps increase your intake of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants that support sleep and cardiovascular health.

Some foods, like tart cherry juice and pistachios, also contain melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep. Some people find these helpful for supporting rest. 

Furthermore, sleep deprivation disrupts your appetite hormones—leptin (which signals fullness) decreases, while ghrelin (which stimulates hunger) increases. This can lead to cravings and overeating, increasing the risk of obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease. 

I’ve seen the impact of better nutrition firsthand with my clients, who often tell me when they’re better fueled, they also sleep better and feel much more rested. 

Sleep and Your Heart: Next Steps

Sleep is one very important piece of the heart health puzzle. While we address sleep issues, it’s also essential to look at other aspects of cardiovascular wellness, like nutrition, stress management, exercise, smoking cessation, and weight management. Fortunately, many of these habits go hand-in-hand, improving both sleep and heart health. 

Need help navigating sleep apnea and heart health or other risk factors? Click here to learn about my 1:1 services or consider joining my next group heart health optimization cohort. You can also schedule a complimentary discovery call here. 

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