Sleeping Well Every Night

Who would have thought that how much we sleep could turn out to be a coronary artery risk factor which is as important as smoking or high blood pressure? In fact, you can be an avid marathon runner, health food nut, gum rat, non-smoker, non-drinker and even a relatively stress-free lean person but still suffer due to getting less-than-adequate sleep.

One such person was Ranjan Das, a young and popular chief executive officer in India and a fitness buff.

He suffered a massive heart attack at the age of 42. He seemed to have done everything right but sleep—getting only 4-5 hours a night when he really needed more.

Evidence has shown that there's a link between lack of sleep and heart disease.

Studies have documented the following:

• Sleeping fewer than 6 hours a night has been linked to an increased risk for high blood pressure by 350-500% compared with those who slept more than 6 hours a night.

•  Young people (25-49 years of age) are twice as likely to get high blood pressure if they sleep less.

• Individuals who sleep less than 5 hours a night have a 3-fold increased risk of heart attacks.

• Middle-aged women who slept for 5 or fewer hours a night had a greater chance of suffering heart attacks than those who have 8 hours of sleep.

• Complete and partial lack of sleep increased the blood concentrations of C-reactive protein, the strongest predictor of heart attacks and other substances that reflect active inflammation. Even after getting adequate sleep later, the levels stay high.

• Just 1 night of sleep loss increases toxic substances in the body that increase risks of many illnesses such as cancer, arthritis and heart disease.

According to Professor Francesco Cappucio, who co-authored a report published in the European Heart Journal, "If you sleep less than 6 hours per night and have disturbed sleep, you stand a 48% greater chance of developing or dying from heart disease and a 15% greater chance of developing or dying from a stroke. The trend for late nights and early mornings is actually a ticking time bomb for our health so you need to act now to reduce your risk of developing these life-threatening conditions."

Sleep deprivation is on the rise worldwide due to easy Internet access, a growing number of TV channels, financial worries and longer working hours. All these distract us from going to bed early, but it is important that we get our restorative 7-8 hours of sleep every night.

Here are a few basic good sleeping habits to practise:

• Go to bed and get up at the same time every day.

• Use your bed only for sleeping.

• Go easy on alcohol and caffeine—avoid nicotine.

• Exercise in the morning or late afternoon.

Get The Most Out Of Your Sleep

If you have trouble falling asleep or getting deep sleep, try a natural sleep supplement, such as Rilax to help regulate your sleep.

Rilax helps you experience a rejuvenating night's sleep, so that you wake up feeling recharged and re-energized.

Darren Atkinson 'Datguy', a radio announcer and news presenter with a local radio station shares, "Switching off and resting can be difficult at times due to my busy lifestyle. However, Rilax helps me to relax and gives me restful sleep when I really need it. With Rilax, I feel fresh, rested and alert the next day and ready to take on another busy day."

Another user, Sherilyn Wong shares, "My lifestyle as a real estate consultant can be very hectic. I often end up sleeping late and having to wake up early. Sometimes when I sleep, I find that my brain is still active and there are a lot of thoughts running through my mind.

"On some mornings, I wake up feeling tired rather than well rested.

"However, I find that Rilax helps me calm down before bedtime and although I only have a few hours of sleep, I'm able to wake up feeling well rested and refreshed."

Classified as a food product by the Ministry of Health Malaysia, Rilax contains 2 proven and award-winning ingredients:

• Lactium: a naturally-occurring peptide found in milk protein that has relaxing and calming properties. Lactium mimics the properties found in mother's milk, thus inducing the same state of calm that a baby enters after a feed.

• Green tea extract: rich in L-Theanine, an amino acid found in green tea leaves that promotes an alert state of relaxation without drowsiness.

Taken an hour before bedtime, Rilax's all-natural ingredients work well to improve sleep quality, particularly those that are stress-related, are safe, non-habit-forming, have no side effects and does not cause grogginess when you wake up.

Lack of Sleep Increases Risk of Heart Attack.

A new study conducted on more than 1,255 men and women patients with high blood pressure, aged between 33 to 97-years, with 70 as the average age, suggests that subjects who did not get the standard 7.5 hours of sleep and witnessed elevated levels of blood pressure on falling asleep, were 4 times as likely to suffer a stroke, fatal or non-fatal heart attack or die suddenly of cardiac arrest. They had a 68% higher risk of any one of these cardiovascular complications, compared to their better-rested counterparts.

The study conducted at Jichi Medical University in Japan, Columbia University Medical Centre, New York City and Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N. Y. and published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, saw researchers follow their subjects over a 50-month period, during which they compiled data on their sleep duration, their day and night blood pressure, including cardiovascular history.

However, it should be noted that only sleep deprived study subjects who failed to see the normal blood pressure dip that occurs overnight were at risk. Others who slept less than 7.5-hours, but did not witness a spike in their overnight blood pressure, like their counterparts who slept longer, without experiencing heightened levels of overnight blood pressure, were not at risk of a higher rate of heart disease.

The study findings confirm what doctors have known for long: chronic sleep deprivation results in a number of health problems like coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. Therefore, researchers say, these findings make it imperative that doctors with high blood pressure patients should inquire about their sleep patterns for risk assessment of high blood pressure patients.

Researchers suspect lack of sleep results in increased nervous system activity during the day, which tends to place undue stress on the cardiovascular system. According to study leader, Dr. Kazuo Eguchi of Jichi Medical University, Japan, non-dipping overnight blood pressure is tied to increased nervous system activity during the day, suggesting the combination could have an "interactive effect to increase cardiovascular risk".