Sleep Your Way to a Healthier Heart

By Danielle Dowling
Reviewed by QualityHealth's Medical Advisory Board

To sleep provides more than a chance to dream. Scientists are waking up to the fact that the right amount of shut-eye restores bones, gives the brain a much-needed break from the daily grind, and prevents a whole host of maladies, including heart disease. In 2007, British researchers reported that snoozing five hours or less every night doubles a person's risk of developing a cardiovascular illness. Here are a few other reasons more quality sack time should be priority No. 1 for the 63 percent of Americans who get less than eight hours of sleep each night:

A lack of Z's can clog your arteries. An article in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association claimed that study subjects who slept five hours or less were more likely than their better-rested peers to accumulate calcium deposits in their coronary arteries, a condition that can make the arteries less flexible and lead to heart disease. Researchers concluded that those who got less than the recommended eight hours every night could cut their calcification risk by a third and enjoy a blood-pressure drop as great as 16.5 points if they added just one hour of sleep to their nightly routine.