Don’t Wear Out Your Welcome: How Sleep Loss Ages Your Heart

Just like any machine, your heart has a finite operational lifespan. Chronic sleep loss accelerates its wear and tear, effectively aging your cardiovascular system prematurely and increasing your risk of heart problems much earlier in life.
This premature aging process begins with your arteries. The constant high pressure from a lack of nocturnal dip causes arteries to lose their elasticity and become stiff, a hallmark of an older cardiovascular system. Stiff arteries force the heart to pump much harder to circulate blood, causing it to wear out faster.
Sleep loss also promotes a state of chronic inflammation, which is another key factor in the aging process. This “inflammaging” accelerates the development of atherosclerosis, making your arteries biologically older than your chronological age. You could have the arteries of a 60-year-old when you’re only 40.
The heart muscle itself is also affected. Without adequate time for repair during sleep, the cumulative damage from daily work builds up. This can lead to a weakening and thickening of the heart muscle, a condition that reduces its efficiency and is more commonly seen in older individuals. To keep your heart young, don’t skimp on the one thing that allows it to truly recover: sleep.