How Does Sleep Affect Cholesterol Levels?

Getting proper sleep is necessary for the optimal overall functioning of your body. Besides, Lack of sleep quality can act as the root cause of a number of issues like diabetes, increased cholesterol levels, and heart conditions. Yes, you have read it right. Poor sleep quality can trigger a lot of adverse actions in your body and that includes hiked cholesterol levels too. Unfortunately, I have to say, the consequence can be even worse when it can lead to clogged arteries and heart attacks. 

The Link Between Sleep And Cholesterol

If you get only a few hours of sleep every day, it is more likely to welcome unhealthy levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in your body. Even if you are so strict with your diet and exercise regimen, those are not enough to have healthy cholesterol markers. A good night’s sleep is essential for your overall health as it can greatly help to maintain healthy cholesterol levels. 

Studies also say that too little, or too much sleep can negatively impact your lipid levels. In the first case, if you sleep less than 5 hours at night, risks are higher for raised levels of triglyceride and lowered HDL. However, sleeping more than 8 hours also brings the same effect, but at the same time, lack of sleep leads to high levels of LDL to develop the risk of cardiovascular diseases. This indicates the importance of optimal sleep quality. 

Additionally, lack of sleep or excess sleep can bring an increase in your appetite and cravings for foods that are high in cholesterol and fat. Besides, you tend to move less and feel more stressed due to lack of sleep. These are again the factors behind hiked cholesterol levels which you should never ignore. 

Is There Any Connection With Snoring?

As we all know, snoring is one of the consequences of high cholesterol levels in the majority of people. But if you believe it or not, snoring is another threat to good cholesterol or HDL levels. To make it more complicated, snoring can lead to conditions like sleep apnea then it will eventually lead to high tidal cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides in the blood. While sleep apnea can lead to rapid weight gain raising the levels of cholesterol. 

How To Deal With Poor Sleep Quality?

Since there is a great risk of high cholesterol levels with a lack of sleep, correcting your sleep habits is the only way to rectify things. Here are some effective tips and techniques that you can follow to encourage good sleep habits. 

Watch out for your night diet

If you want to enjoy a good night’s sleep every day, never doze off with an empty or stuffed stomach. Both of these can cause discomfort and will keep you up all night. So it is best to have heavy meals within a couple of hours of your bedtime. Also, it is necessary to avoid alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine at night as they can have a direct impact on your sleep quality

Have the correct sleep schedule

Try to keep a balance on the total time for sleep. To make it clear, keep in between 6-8 hours. 

Besides, it would be better to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. This consistency will help you reinforce your body’s sleep-wake cycle. 

Keep a restful atmosphere

You can keep your bedroom to be worthy of a good night’s sleep by avoiding mess. A quiet, dark, calm, and cool room is always cozy to get a relaxing sleep. 

Say no to daytime naps

The more you sleep during the day, the less you can sleep at night. So limit your naps to 30 minutes, to let them not interrupt your nighttime sleep. 

Do more physical moves

Physical activities will help you sleep faster and deeper up to the required time. So, you can simply keep a workout routine or do more physical moves to improve sleep quality. 

Conclusion

Lack of sleep is a common threat to hiked cholesterol levels, which many people face today.

So, having optimal sleep patterns has become a necessity rather than a sign of health. Trying relaxation techniques like Yoga, meditation and similar activities can help you have better sleep.

But, sometimes, it can’t be so easy to bring back the quality of sleep that you have lost.

In such cases, never hesitate to seek medical help as the correct medical approaches can help you retrieve sleep quality, so as to reduce the risk of high cholesterol levels.