Health conditions linked to poor sleep

2. CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE While heart problems seem distinct from breathing (and therefore sleeping) problems, the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems are intricately linked. That’s why,

in broad terms, upwards of two-thirds of people with heart failure (when damage to your heart prevents it from pumping enough blood effectively) also have sleep apnea, says James Rowley,

M.D., a pulmonologist and the program director of the Sleep Medicine Fellowship at RUSH University Medical Center. Often these patients have central sleep apnea, when the brain fails to tell

the lungs to breathe, rather than obstructive sleep apnea, the more widely known type in which a mechanical issue in the throat blocks air from reaching the lungs. As a result, your sleep

is erratic, which puts more stress on the heart, which exacerbates both conditions. “If you don’t treat the sleep apnea, [patients] are not gonna feel better — even if you’ve been treating

the congestive heart failure,” says Rowley, the immediate past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. “And then there’s also evidence that treating the sleep apnea helps the

congestive heart failure.” Managing heart failure can include lifestyle changes like salt reduction and medications like those that help open up the blood vessels. 3. MENOPAUSE Hot flashes

and night sweats are stereotypical menopausal symptoms for a reason, with some research showing that as many as 87 percent of midlife women experience them. So it’s no wonder women going

through menopause often struggle to get high-quality sleep. It’s not just the symptoms of menopause that can interrupt solid shut-eye during this transition — so, too, can stressors like

caring for aging parents or menopause-adjacent mental health conditions like depression. And some research suggests about half of menopausal women have an underlying sleep disorder

independent of their life stage. “It can be hard to tease apart, but it is always a discussion to have with your gynecologist, especially one who is very knowledgeable about menopause

treatments,” Harris says. Those treatments may include hormone therapy (which can help reduce hot flashes and night sweats) or nonhormonal meds like benzodiazepines (which can help reduce

anxiety). The gold standard, though, is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, Harris says. “This approach works on limiting naps during the day, creating a more appropriate sleep-wake

schedule, working on any thoughts about sleep that might be interfering with the ability to sleep (‘I must sleep or else XYZ will happen tomorrow’) and improving sleep hygiene, movement and

light exposure during the day,” she says. 4. DEMENTIA The term “dementia” encompasses a range of conditions, from mild to severe, Grandner says. “But they all have to do with what’s called

neurodegeneration, which means that areas of the brain start losing function and breaking down. And it’s not just the cells themselves dying; it’s also the connections between them that are

altered,” he says. Sleep disturbances frequently accompany that process, with about 25 percent of people with mild to moderate dementia and 50 percent of people with severe dementia facing

them, according to the Mayo Clinic. More specifically, people with Alzheimer’s — the most common type of dementia — may experience “sundowning,” which often starts around dusk but can last

into the night. It can include agitation, anxiety, disorientation and pacing throughout the night, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Dementia’s effect on melatonin production can

also disrupt a person’s internal body clock and make it difficult to sleep. “I don’t think there are any neurodegenerative disorders that don’t have a significant impact on sleep-wake

regulation,” Grandner says. The reverse is true too: Poor sleep can raise the risk of developing dementia in the first place. One 2023 study looking at 10 years of data from U.S. adults over

age 64 found that sleep-initiation insomnia (the type where it’s hard to fall asleep) was associated with a 51 percent increased risk of dementia, and using sleep meds was linked to a 30

percent increased dementia risk. No matter which comes first — poor sleep or dementia — supporting better sleep can include lifestyle adjustments like maintaining a routine and avoiding

daytime napping, as well as treatments like melatonin supplementation and light therapy, the Mayo Clinic says.