A Reason To Sleep

Americans don't get enough sleep.

We all know how sleep deprivation makes us feel, but did you know that getting enough shut-eye could prevent heart disease.

That's right! Swedish researchers looked at 20 years of records and discovered a dip in the number of heart attacks on the Monday after clocks were set back an hour ... maybe getting that extra hour does more good than we know.




Dr. Lori Mosca says, "sleep - through a variety of mechanisms - affects our cardiovascular health". "Sleep not only impacts how we feel, but it may also affect whether we develop heart disease or not"!

These findings were published in the October 2008 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Mosca also said that "sleep can affect the heart through changes in blood pressure, inflammation, blood clotting, blood sugar, cholesterol and blood vessels".




So ... there you have it. Eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, stay away from sugar, get plenty of exercise and sleep!

How simple is that.

I am looking forward to going to the mountains next week-end to get plenty of deep and restful sleep. It's part of my cardiovascular health routine.