Sleep and Heart Health

A March 2020 study by the American College of Cardiology suggests that 6-8 hours of sleep is optimal, for heart health. The researchers said,

• "The message, based on our findings, is 'sleep well, but not too well.' Getting too little sleep appears bad for your health but too much seems to be harmful as well."

• "Unlike other heart disease risk factors such as age or genetics, sleep habits can be adjusted, and even after taking into consideration the impact of established risk factors for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases--for example age, gender, obesity, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, high blood pressure and even a history of coronary artery disease--both short and long sleeping duration may act as additional risk factors."

• "We don't fully understand the relationship between sleep and cardiovascular health. It could be that sympathetic nervous system withdrawal or a slowing [of this system] that occurs during sleep may act as a recovery phase for [usual] vascular and cardiac strain."

• "Moreover, short sleep duration may be associated with increased cardiovascular risk factors--for example, unhealthy diet, stress, being overweight or greater alcohol consumption--whereas longer sleep duration may be associated with a less active lifestyle pattern and lower physical activity."

• "It seems that this amount of sleep may act as an additive cardioprotective factor among people living in modern western societies, and there can be other health benefits to getting sufficient and quality sleep."

olive and other oils, animal fats, and heart disease

A March 2020 study by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said,

• "Previous studies have linked high consumption of olive oil with better cardiovascular health, particularly in Mediterranean countries where olive oil intake is much higher than in the United States."

• "Our aim was to investigate whether higher olive oil consumption was beneficial to heart health in the U.S. population."

• "One interesting thing our study shows is that although olive oil was better than most animal fats and margarine, it was not superior to vegetable oils in this study population."

• "This means that replacing any type of animal fat with vegetable oils, including olive oil but also others, could be a good strategy to improve cardiovascular health."

True Heart Health

“The heart becomes well when it acquires knowledge of its Lord and Creator and in His Names, Attributes, Actions and Commandments.”

“The heart in addition becomes well when it prefers acquiring Allah's Pleasure and prefers what He likes, all the while avoiding His prohibitions and what might lead to His displeasure.”

“There is no life, health, or wellbeing for the heart except by this method, which only the Messengers can provide. It is wrong to think that one can ever attain the hearts wellbeing through any other way than through the guidance of the Messengers of Allah.”

“These errors result from confusing the heart's true wellbeing with satisfying and strengthening its lower animal lusts and desires. By this way, the heart will be far from acquiring its true wellbeing, strength and even its very existence will be in danger.”

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya in “Prophetic Medicine”

Visceral Fat, Obesity, Heart Disease and Diabetes

A January 2019 study by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute looked at visceral adipose tissue – visceral fat – (VAT).  

One theory, the "VAT prioritization hypothesis", suggests that a fetus that is undernourished makes the decision to store fat (energy) in visceral fat instead of in fat under the skin – subcutaneous fat.  Visceral fat (VAT) is designed to protect from infection. This prioritizing has a major impact on later life obesity, diabetes, blood pressure. VAT is, in part, stored in the omentum (we wrote about that recently).

An increase in visceral fat causes inflammation. This can lead to insulin resistance. A feed-back loop starts: even more visceral fat is stored.

The researchers said,

• “Trying to understand diseases related to obesity without understanding the abdominal structures [the omentum] that become obese is like trying to understand circulatory diseases without knowing the functions of the heart,"

• "The fact that visceral fat tissue evolved to fight visceral infections provides a causal hypothesis for how high fructose sweeteners and saturated fats contribute to chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes,"

• "They influence which bacteria grow inside the intestines [called the microbiome], making the intestinal walls more permeable and releasing more toxins into the bloodstream, stimulating the visceral immune system and potentially leading to chronic inflammatory disease."

• "I think the combination of malnutrition early in life coupled with modern diets of saturated and trans-fats and high-fructose foods available on a global scale is leading to a situation that is toxic for individuals in many different cultures."

• "People's body shape--apple versus pear--is based on the way their bodies allocate fat. Even in ancient societies, poor nutrition leading to investment in VAT contributed to apple-shaped bodies, versus more 'beautiful,' voluptuous, pear-shaped bodies associated with SAT fat storage by better-nourished babies. Social upheaval (war, conquest and disease) would have favored flexibility in fat allocation because social rank and food availability would occasionally have changed."

Magnesium and Heart Disease in Women

A December 2019 study by the Women's Health Initiative found that there was a reduced risk of heart disease related to higher magnesium intake.

The Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, said: "If the findings of this study are confirmed, future research should test whether high-risk women would benefit from magnesium supplementation to reduce their risk of fatal coronary heart disease."

Good sources of magnesium are whole grains, seeds, dry beans, low-fat dairy, nuts, and greens.

Intermittent Fasting for Metabolic Syndrome

A November 2017 study by the University of California, San Diego found that,

“There is a critical window for intervention with metabolic syndrome. Once people become diabetic or are on multiple medications, such as insulin, it's very hard to reverse the disease process.

"Metabolism is closely linked with circadian rhythms, and knowing this, we were able to develop an intervention to help patients with metabolic syndrome without decreasing calories or increasing physical exercise."

"Time-restricted eating is a simple dietary intervention to incorporate, and we found that participants were able to keep the eating schedule,"

"Eating and drinking everything (except water) during a 10-hour window allows your body to rest and restore for 14 hours at night. Your body can also anticipate when you will eat, so it can prepare the body to optimize metabolism."

"Knowing how to optimize circadian rhythms could lead to a new treatment option for metabolic syndrome patients with life-altering diseases."

The Obesity Paradox

A September 2019 study of the protective benefit of obesity in established Heart Failure (“HF”), the so-called 'obesity paradox' by the University of Adelaide found,

"The obesity paradox is the observation, generally from large clinical registries or trials, that the presence of obesity confers a survival benefit over normal or underweight individuals,''

"There are a number of possible explanations for obesity paradox in HF including whether obese patients are diagnosed earlier in their disease course due to greater functional impairment, and also whether obese patients tolerate disease-modifying and prognostic medications compared with non-obese patients.

"In this meta-analysis, the data found a 'U-shaped' survival curve with the lowest mortality in overweight patients and a reduced mortality in the obese when compared with normal or underweight HF patients.

"This meta-analysis adds to the body of evidence supporting the clear link between obesity and HF, the effect of weight on prognosis of HF and the impact of weight loss on cardiac remodeling. We are now conducting a randomized controlled study assessing the impact of intentional weight loss (achieved through dietary intervention and prescribed exercise), in a HF population of obese patients. This will hopefully address the important clinical question of whether intentional weight loss is beneficial in this growing group of patients."

Lack of Sleep Combined with Health Issues a risk factor for Cancer

A September 2019 study by the Sleep Research & Treatment Center of the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania found that, “… achieving normal sleep may be protective for some people with [high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease or stroke]…"

The researchers said, "Short sleep duration should be included as a useful risk factor to predict the long-term outcomes of people with these health conditions and as a target of primary and specialized clinical practices."

Insomnia – Heart Disease - Strokes

An August 2019 study of 1.3 million participants by Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm found “… significantly higher odds of coronary artery disease, heart failure and ischemic stroke - particularly large artery stroke, but not atrial fibrillation…” (Eureka Alert AASS)