The Case for Getting More Sleep

Women have long been left out of the conversation around heart disease thanks to its stereotype (as an issue that affects middle-aged men almost exclusively). But heart disease is a major issue for women too, despite this cultural perception: According to the CDC, it is the leading cause of death among women in the United States.

We've needed more answers about how exactly heart disease affects and kills women. We know that generally speaking, heart disease risk factors are both genetic and related to lifestyle, and we talk about both of those things in the context of men's health. But we don't give women nearly enough guidance on how to reduce their risks.

Yes, we have some guidelines — exercise often, eat well, avoid smoking — but here's something we don't often consider when we think about cardiovascular disease risk: Sleep.

Women's Health recently shed light on the relationship between these two factors, citing research from the Menopause journal that involved the study of 3,000 women. Sleep ended up being the biggest predictor of cardiovascular disease risk.

This seems especially true among midlife women. The experts interviewed for this coverage point to increased inflammation, high blood pressure, and obesity in connection to these findings.

Here's what is so complicated: Show me a midlife woman and I'll show a person who is under-rested. At this phase of life, so many of us are juggling enormous loads: Kids, parents, home, marriage, community, demanding careers...and even if we make time for enough sleep, often we can't fully shut down. As we know, sleep disturbances are particularly common in middle age.

So what do we do? I...don't know. I guess, for starters, we start to take sleep seriously. This research shows us how truly important it is.

Finding routines that help us wind down, investing in comfortable bedding, finally setting those boundaries around shutting down the phone and turning out the lights...all these things can help.