7 Ways Sleep and Heart Health Are Connected for Seniors

By Care Street Home Care Staff | September 1, 2023 | Comments Off on 7 Ways Sleep and Heart Health Are Connected for Seniors
Home Care Assistance in Highland Park MN

Home Care Assistance in Highland Park MN

As seniors grow older, they might face more difficulty managing health issues. It can also be more difficult for them to get the sleep they need and want to have. It turns out that these issues can be related to each other. Understanding how sleep can improve heart health allows seniors to make progress toward being healthier. Here are a few ways that sleep impacts heart health, and how home care assistance can help.

Blood Pressure

Blood pressure and heart health are very closely related, and when blood pressure is too high, the risk for heart disease grows. When seniors aren’t getting enough sleep, stress hormones and other chemicals in the body are out of balance. That can lead to higher blood pressure overall, as well as increasing heart disease risk.

Blood Sugar

Sleep plays a big role in blood sugar management, too. When sleep is disrupted significantly, it’s difficult for the body to manage both glucose and insulin levels. That can lead to higher blood sugar levels, which eventually can lead to diabetes. Uncontrolled diabetes takes a big toll on heart health, which is a big reason to keep blood sugar under better control. Eating healthy meals with the help of home care assistance is essential, too.

Inflammation

Inflammation is another heart disease risk factor. When seniors are sleeping well, the body is able to repair itself and manage issues like higher than usual levels of inflammation. But when seniors aren’t getting enough sleep, inflammation builds up and causes problems throughout the body.

Weight Management

Seniors who are having more trouble with weight management might also be having trouble sleeping. Too much excess weight can also cause problems for heart health, so it’s important to manage weight carefully. Seniors who need to eat a specific diet might need help from elder care providers to make meal preparation easier.

Stress

Seniors who are under a lot of stress might not be sleeping well. In turn, poor sleep just makes stress harder to control. Stress hormones like cortisol can strain the heart and the entire cardiovascular system when they’re too high for too long. Getting better sleep on a consistent basis helps to bring down those stress hormone levels, helping to protect the heart.

Repair and Restoration

The heart, just like the rest of the body, needs sleep in order to restore itself and repair itself at the cellular level. Prioritizing sleep helps to ensure that the brain, the body, and the cardiovascular system have the time that they need to properly repair overnight.

Overall Well-being

People just feel better when they’re getting enough sleep. It’s easier to take the best possible care of themselves and they have fewer issues related to mood disorders and other health issues. When seniors have enough energy, it’s easier for them to care about doing all the things they need to do to keep themselves, and their hearts, as healthy as possible.

Getting plenty of quality sleep is a big goal for aging adults. These kinds of challenges are a lot easier for seniors to accomplish with help from home care assistance, because many of the tasks involved can take a lot of time and energy to manage consistently. Help from caregivers makes sure that seniors have someone to rely on and help them whenever they need that extra boost.

If you or an aging loved one is considering home care assistance in Highland Park, NJ, please contact the caring staff at Care Street Home Care today. Call (732) 607-8870.

Care Street Home Care Staff
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