Hello everyone and welcome back to the Senior
Safety Advice Podcast. Continuing with this month's
theme of Heart Health and Emotional Resilience
Month, I'm going to be talking today about the
role of sleep in a healthy heart. I want to say
this, that sleep is not a luxury. It's not something
extra. It's not something that you earn after
a long day. Sleep is actually maintenance for
your body. It's how the heart rests. It's how
the body repairs. It's how stress gets a chance
to stand down for a little bit. When sleep suffers,
the heart feels it. People often tell me, and
I myself experience terrible times sleeping,
you know, I don't sleep like I used to or I wake
up a lot is what I hear from a lot of people.
I feel tired even after sleeping. It takes me
two hours to get to sleep. And they think that
that's just part of aging or a lot of women look
at it as part of menopause. But here's the thing.
Poor sleep puts extra strain on your heart, and
when you don't sleep well, your blood pressure
tends to rise, stress hormones stay high, and
inflammation in your body can increase. The heart
isn't able to get a break, and over time, that
matters. I've worked with many seniors who were
doing everything right, eating better, taking
their medication, trying to move more, but their
sleep was off. My mom -in -law was like that.
You know, she ate better than most anyone I know.
She lived to 102. She was religious with her
medication and she walked every single day at
least one mile. So, but yet her sleep tend to
be off. She would wake up multiple times during
the night or just sometimes have trouble getting
to sleep. And until sleep improves, Heart health
doesn't fully improve either. Sleep is when the
heart tends to slow down, has a chance to slow
down. It can beat more steadily. It can recover
from the stress of the day. Without that recovery,
the heart stays in work mode. And nobody can
stay in work mode forever. We're not robots.
So another thing that I want to mention besides
the length of time that you sleep is the quality
of your sleep. It's not necessarily just about
hours. Someone can be in bed for eight hours
and still not get restorative sleep. There's
frequent waking up or there's, you know, hours
before you can even get to sleep. There's restless
tossing. There's just this light sleep. That
fragmented sleep keeps the nervous system alert.
And an alert nervous system keeps your blood
pressure higher. I mean, sometimes your numbers
can improve just by sleeping more soundly, not
necessarily longer, just better. Now, let's talk
about routines. The heart loves rhythm. Like
most of us as we get older, routines are some
of the best ways that we can live our lives.
Going to bed at roughly the same time, waking
up around the same time, that predictability
helps to regulate hormones. When sleep timing
is all over the place, the heart has to adapt
constantly. Now, of course, there are going to
be times when you can't get to bed at the same
time, you know, you're going out to dinner or
during the holidays. That adaptation of Not being
able to get to a specific, you know, stick to
a specific routine adds strain to your body and
your heart. Small routines make a very big difference.
Dimming the lights earlier in your environment
can help you to get to sleep. turning off stimulating
screens, you know, like your phone, your television,
your computer, doing the same calming activity
every night. Now that tells the body, okay, it's
safe to rest now. Another thing that affects
sleep and heart health is stress before bed.
Watching upsetting news, replaying worries, trying
to solve problems at midnight, that keeps the
heart on alert. I've seen people sleep better
just by changing what they do in the last hour
before bed. Something quiet, something familiar,
something comforting. That calm protects the
heart. Breathing also is something that is very
important as well. Slow breathing before sleep
helps to lower the heart rate. It helps the blood
pressure to settle. Even a few short breaths
can change how the body enters sleep. Another
thing that families don't always realize is that
poor sleep increases sensitivity to pain. When
pain increases, Stress increases and that cycle
affects the heart. I've seen people break that
cycle by improving sleep comfort. Better pillows,
supportive mattresses, reducing nighttime discomfort.
Comfort supports rest and rest supports the heart.
All right, now let's talk about sleep interruptions.
Getting up often to use the bathroom, that's
very common with older adults. pain waking someone
up, anxiety waking someone up, those interruptions
fragment sleep. Sometimes small changes really
help. Reducing fluids right before bed, improving
nighttime lighting to reduce stress, addressing
pain earlier in the evening. Each small fix improves
sleep quality, and those improvements all help
to protect the heart. Another important point
is that sleep affects how the body handles your
sugar and fat. Poor sleep increases cravings.
It affects metabolism. That indirectly affects
your heart health as well. I've seen people make
better food choices when they're well rested
because tired brains crave quick energy. Sleep
supports better decisions. And here's something
I really want to say. out loud to you. Struggling
with sleep is not a personal failure. It's common,
especially with aging. But it's also something
worth talking about with your doctor. Sleep issues
are not just part of getting older when they
affect health. Getting help is not complaining,
it's caring for your heart. Caregivers need this
reminder as well. I see so many caregivers sacrificing
their sleep. staying alert all night, listening
for sounds. That constant vigilance strains the
heart. Even small stretches of rest matter. Sharing
nighttime responsibility with others, using monitoring
tools, and creating safer sleep environments.
Those supports protect caregiver heart health
as well. And here's the big takeaway I want to
leave you with. Sleep is active healing. It's
not wasted time. It's essential time. So if you
need that nap in the afternoon, take it. Protecting
sleep protects the heart. So if your sleep has
been off lately, start small. Pick one routine.
one calming habit and one small change. Those
gentle steps really add up because when the body
rests, the heart heals. I can tell you that for
me, introducing a white noise in the background
that plays for at least four hours, that white
noise has really helped me to sleep soundly and
longer, much better. So maybe that'll help you
too. Well, that's all that I have for you today.
Thank you again for being here with me. If today's
episode gave you some useful insights or some
new ideas, then please share it with someone
who might find it helpful as well. You can discover
even more expert tips and helpful guides for
seniors and caregivers at seniorsafetyadvice
.com. And if you're searching for an Aging in
Place specialist, then please visit our website
at aginginplacedirectory .com. Come back tomorrow
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