The Monitor Newspaper: The American Heart Association developed a checklist of factors for optimal heart health, which used to be called Life’s Simple 7, and it is now called Life’s Essential 8.
Previously, the list included seven essential items, including diet, weight, physical activity and more.
The American Heart Association has added to the list a new activity “believed to be essential for heart health,” sleep, with the new sleep scale now indicating that healthy sleep is also important for overall cardiovascular health.
Moreover, this practice does not involve doing a lot of activity, just relaxation.
“Sleep duration is now an essential component of optimal heart and brain health,” explained research published in the journal Circulation.
By measuring the average hours of sleep per night, the research team found the ‘ideal’ sleep duration to be between seven and nine hours for adults.
When it comes to children aged five years and under, the sleep duration should be 10 to 16 hours per 24 hours.
Those aged 6 to 12 years should sleep between 9 and 12 hours.
Teens aged 13 to 18 should aim for 8 to 10 hours of sleep.
Several researches indicate that more than 80% of all cardiovascular events can be prevented by following a healthy lifestyle. And sleep is just one factor for heart health.
The list of factors to consider for good heart health includes:
– healthy diet
exposure to nicotine
– sleep duration
– BMI
Blood lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides)
– blood glucose
– blood pressure