Sleep and heart health.

[Mgs333]

Does anybody know if there is a possible link between poor sleep/insomnia and heart health ?

The reason is I have always been poor sleeper due mainly to work shift patterns. I also have a slightly obstructive airway by way of a long suffered deviated septum. Over the past couple of years I have been getting heart thumps and PVC's almost every night, but only when I try to fall asleep or am actually asleep when they wake me up. I have had alot of tests from a cardiologist who can't find anything wrong and says my heart health is good. But its the lying down and "drifting off " seems to trigger the palpitations....it sounds crazy but it seems that sleep brings them on in some way.

[welly10]

Hi mgs333 I think any lack of sleep is detrimental to your health as this is the time we recharge and heal.getting the balance right is hard lots of people suffer with sleepGood luck

[alexask]

If you are post menopausal and worried would suggest that 200 mg CoQ10 would benefit your heart.

[WayneSC]

I would recommend being tested for sleep apnea. I have been using a CPAP machine since December and have never had better sleep. Probably had 2-3 hours of quality sleep previously. And yes, untreated sleep apnea can cause heart issues.

[Mgs333 in reply to WayneSC]

Yeh, Ive been to a sleep clinic on a couple of occasions and tried a CPAP machine for 2 weeks but just couldn't get on with it. I remember that the machine (phillips) was preset by the clinic to maximum which nearly blew my head off....I couldn't reduce the pressure myself. Consequently my nights were even worse.

[WayneSC in reply to Mgs333]

What a shame they didn’t do more to work with you for better satisfaction. I am set to begin at a lower pressure and increasing to a higher pressure an hour later. Once you have a proper fitting mask on, you really can’t feel the pressure. I would find a more caring doctor that has a staff member to monitor you and making adjustments until it is set properly. This is definitely not a DIY treatment. Give it another try for the sake of your health.

Do you recall your events per hour when you were tested?

[kaliska0]

There could be connections between heart problems and sleep but you'd have to have an actual heart problem. If they checked and did not find a problem with your heart then it's not really a link to a heart health issue.

Your heart rate and blood pressure do change when you fall asleep and during dreaming. Odd signals from your nervous system could result in weird heart beats. The weird feelings or your concern over them being something serious could prevent sleep. It's still not exactly a health problem though. More along the lines of when your body does those little jerks as you fall asleep. Just something the nervous system does when it gets confused at the onset of sleep.

My heart rate and bp became oddly sensitive about 10 years ago. They spike or drop at the slightest provocation. Cardiologist and pulmonologist went over everything and after several years no one could come up with a single problem in my heart, arteries, or lungs. Sometimes I have this weird feeling where it seems like my heart gives several rapid beats and this wave will go over my body. Sometimes a ringing in my ears. I found it happens when my blood pressure has dropped too low. There isn't a clinical level for too low but I get symptoms when it's below 100/60. Only explanation is just bad nervous system signalling or vagus nerve pressure. Not really a health issue since nothing is failing to work properly or at risk of damage/failure.

I haven't found it interferes with my sleep except back when I worried it was a possible health risk. Now I know my heart isn't about to give out, my lungs are getting oxygen just fine even when they complain they aren't, my body can raise or lower my blood pressure if it actually sees a serious physical need to, etc.... It's just not always quite doing what it's supposed to and makes up for it with weird heart beats and rapid changes that give odd symptoms when it finally gets around to correcting my high/low blood pressure. After several years of no one finding out why I just ignore the weird feeling and go back to sleep. Lack of sleep does make it more likely I'll have odd heart beats or weirdly high/low blood pressure readings. I mostly ignore that too and just avoid activity that might cause excessive heart rate spikes or make me dizzy until I get more sleep again.