Verified By September 5, 2020
For a healthy heart, good sleep is necessary. If speaking in medical terms, regardless of your age, weight, exercise, or smoking habits, less sleep can result in a greater risk of coronary heart diseases and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, to reduce the risk of such diseases, a good night’s sleep is extremely vital.
Importance of Sleeping Properly at Night
As per research, sleeping less can disturb the biological processes of the body like blood pressure, glucose metabolism, and inflammation and can cause disturbances in the primary health conditions as well. That being said, this can hold true for oversleeping as well. So, ensuring that you have proper sleep at night is quite important.
Not only does proper sleep help in maintaining a healthy heart but can also help regulate your mood and improve your memory, intelligence quotient, energy level, and overall health. In addition to this, it also helps in staying focused on a task or learning new skills that you are working on and can help in controlling your weight as well. Sleep helps the body regulate hormones, which contributes to maintaining a healthy immune system. So, if you deal with the issues you have with having a good sleep, the burden on your heart can be eased.
Tips for Sleeping Well after a Heart Attack
Many times, a heart attack can lead to you feeling emotional and anxious. This can affect the quality of your sleep. Proper sleep can aid your recovery and if you are not able to sleep comfortably at night after your heart attack, here are a few tips that you can follow –
Tips to Sleep Well After a Heart Surgery
Going back to your regular life after heart surgery can be quite stressful. However, it is very important for your recovery for you to be able to sleep well. You can try some relaxation and breathing exercise techniques to help you cope up with unwanted stress, leading to better sleep at night.
Recommended Sleeping Positions
In case, you face issues while sleeping after the surgery, you can try the following sleep positions:
Upright: The recommended sleeping position for the first few weeks after the surgery is an upright position, while the chest bone heals. You can sleep in a recliner or a foldable bed as they are quite comfortable. Use a neck pillow to support your neck and spine. However, one challenge with the upright position is that it doesn’t allow for continuous and good quality sleep. Therefore, this position is not recommended for a very long time.
Back: The recovery of heart surgery is gradual and once it starts, it is necessary that you keep strain off your chest and heart as much as possible. Your doctor will recommend sleeping on your back, which allows your head, neck, and spine to be aligned properly, thereby reducing the pressure of the chest and heart. However, if it becomes a little difficult to get in or out of the bed, make sure that you have enough support (pillows) for an easier transition.
Right side: Some individuals have the habit of sleeping on their stomach, however, after the heart surgery, this posture is not recommended. So instead, you can try sleeping on your side. But, make sure you only sleep on your right side as sleeping on the left side can cause breathing problems and more chest pain.
Other Sleeping Tips
Adjusting to life after heart surgery can be stressful but you will be back to your normal sleeping pattern gradually. However, if you face issues or notice a change or lack of sleep that is affecting your health, consult your doctor at the earliest.
Irrespective of whether you had heart surgery or have experienced a heart attack, good and undisturbed sleep is extremely important. If you are having trouble sleeping, which is impacting your lifestyle and health, fix an appointment with your doctor immediately. Ensure that you inform your doctor about the medication you are on.
February 5, 2021