Sleep Soundly for Heart Health By Steven Georgeson, MD If you're
not getting a restful night's sleep, you may be causing damage
to your heart. Undiagnosed sleep disorders can cause or worsen
many cardiac conditions. Half of all patients with high blood
pressure, atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure and
one third of patients with coronary artery disease suffer from
obstructive sleep apnea, the most common sleep-related breathing
disorder. How does your sleeping pattern affect your heart? In
general, sleep relaxes the cardiovascular system. Obstructive
sleep apnea prevents that relaxation. It occurs when the upper
airway is either partially or completely closed during sleep.
This closure causes periods of stopped breathing which lowers
the oxygen level of the blood and increases blood pressure and
adrenaline levels. By fragmenting sleep and by producing surges
of adrenaline, individuals with obstructive sleep apnea are kept
in a continually activated state. This activation prevents the
normal decrea