The Surprising Habit That May Increase Heart Disease Risk

Sleep is one of the most underrated habits for heart health, and yet, many Americans don’t get enough. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that nearly 37% of adults sleep less than seven hours per night, the minimum amount recommended for optimal health. While skimping on sleep may not seem like a big deal, it is a significant risk factor for heart disease. From high blood pressure and elevated stress hormones to impaired glucose metabolism and changes to eating habits, insufficient sleep can impact nearly every area of health.

“Poor sleep can impact decision-making capacity,” explains Dr. Elizabeth Klodas. This can result in poor choices when it comes to lifestyle—eating less healthfully, exercising less and smoking more, and lifestyle is the biggest driver of heart disease, adds Klodas.

Here’s what cardiologists want you to know about how poor sleep habits can affect your heart and what other lifestyle factors you can do to protect heart health.

How Lack of Sleep Affects Heart Health

Increases the Risk for High Blood Pressure

“Non-restorative sleep is a known and powerful risk factor for high blood pressure,” explains Klodas. Sleep reduces heart muscle activity, resulting in less strain on the heart and vasculature.

High blood pressure (hypertension) exerts extra pressure on blood vessels. Over time, this pressure can damage vessels, impacting the flow of blood and oxygen to your heart and brain, potentially resulting in a heart attack or stroke.

Additionally, some research suggests that sleep deprivation accelerates atherosclerosis or the accumulation of plaque in blood vessels, a known risk factor for heart disease.

May Elevate Stress Hormones

Poor sleep increases levels of stress hormones, like cortisol. “Those same hormones can reduce our tissues’ sensitivity to insulin, leading to higher blood sugar levels and higher cholesterol numbers,” Klodas says. High blood sugar and cholesterol are risk factors for atherosclerosis. 

Cortisol also contributes to fluid retention, which can lead to uncontrolled hypertension.

Raises the Risk of Diabetes

Insufficient sleep impairs glucose metabolism, which contributes to the development of insulin resistance. Even just one week of poor sleep can reduce insulin sensitivity.

A short sleep duration—often defined as less than six hours—increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes., High glucose levels damage blood vessels over time, increasing the risk of heart disease. In fact, people living with type 2 diabetes have twice the risk of developing heart disease as people without diabetes.

Affects How Your Heart Functions 

Sleep deprivation affects the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic activity in your autonomic nervous system. These two branches are responsible for regulating many activities of your health, including blood pressure and heart rate.

Insufficient sleep increases sympathetic activity, which is associated with elevated heart rate, blood pressure and reduced heart rate variability—factors affecting cardiovascular functioning.

Changes Your Eating Habits

Sleep disruption also affects hormones that regulate hunger and satiety, such as increasing ghrelin (which stimulates appetite) and decreasing leptin (which signals fullness), leading to increased hunger and a preference for highly palatable, high-calorie foods.

With less sleep, you’re more likely to consume more calories. A study compared the effects of sleep deprivation versus getting adequate sleep on calorie intake the next day. Those who received ample shut-eye consumed 270 fewer calories per day on average compared to the sleep-deprived group. They also achieved negative energy balance, which means you’re consuming fewer calories or energy than your body needs, which, when consistent, can lead to weight loss. Overweight and obesity are established risk factors for heart disease.

How Sleep Apnea Increases the Risk of Atrial Fibrillation

One potential cause for not getting enough rest at night? Sleep apnea—a common condition in which your airway collapses or becomes blocked during sleep, resulting in shallow breathing or pauses in breathing that last for a few seconds to minutes. Sleep apnea disturbs sleep, contributing to worse sleep quality and shorter duration. 

“Sleep apnea is a significant risk factor for developing atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm that increases the risk of stroke,” comments Klodas. “Addressing sleep apnea can eliminate atrial fibrillation and/or make any treatment for this condition much more effective,” says Klodas.

Strategies to Decrease Your Heart Disease Risk

• Quit smoking: Chemicals from inhaling smoke damage blood vessels and your heart. Smoking raises cholesterol and blood pressure and contributes to atherosclerosis. Reducing or quitting smoking lowers your risk of getting and dying from heart disease.,
• Reduce your alcohol intake: Heavy or binge drinking—defined as more than two drinks per day—is harmful to heart health. However, even one to two standard drinks per day can increase your risk of heart disease. Drinking within this amount can exacerbate high blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart disease.
• Focus on a heart-healthy diet: Prioritize antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats designed to optimize your cardiometabolic health, explains Michelle Routhenstein, M.S., RD, CDCES, CDN. Limit saturated fats, salt and sugar to help prevent heart disease.
• Stay active: Regular exercise helps you maintain a healthy weight and lowers blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise and two strength training sessions per week.
• Incorporate stress management techniques: Transcendental meditation may lower systolic blood pressure by five millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure by two mmHg. Transcendental meditation is a type of silent meditation aimed at quieting the inner voice and the mind. Other stress management techniques, such as deep breathing, may also lower blood pressure.
• Get routine blood work: “Since heart disease can happen silently in your body, it is important that we are looking at your cardiometabolic lab values and improving them as early as possible,” says Routhenstein. If cardiometabolic labs are elevated, then it is essential to work with your healthcare team to improve these numbers to optimal levels based on your individual risk, Routhenstein adds.

Our Expert Take

“We have a lot of power over our health trajectories,” comments Klodas, adding, “we should use that power to live longer, live better and reduce our dependence on medications.” In other words, prioritizing sleep is one of the simplest ways to support your heart health.

Consistently getting seven to nine hours of quality rest each night can help lower blood pressure, balance hormones and support glucose control. However, sleep is not the only habit that affects heart health. Combining sleep with regular exercise, stress management and a healthy diet can support long-term cardiovascular health.