Sleep Archive

Learn when, how, and why you should keep track of your heartbeat.

Soon after you wake up tomorrow morning, before you even sit up in bed, take your pulse. It's fairly easy if you have a clock or timer nearby (see "Measuring your heart rate"). Known as your resting heart rate, this value ranges from 60 to 100 beats per minute in most adults.

"To get a good sense of your resting heart rate, check it every few mornings over the course of several weeks," advises cardiologist Dr. Aaron Baggish, director of the Cardiovascular Performance Program at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. It's best to measure your resting heart rate when you've been getting your typical amount of sleep and exercise and aren't feeling ill or dehydrated.

Schedule shifts can hurt your health. The New Year is a great time to hit the reset button.

Throughout most of human history, the pattern of daily life was regular. Dreary for many, but regular. In recent centuries, "modern" life has introduced many irregularities, including changing work schedules. Advances in information technology mean that many of us are always connected — and that we spend time connecting at all hours. And the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced whole new irregularities into daily life.

One thing is certain: "When your schedule changes, you can lose the regular self-care routines that kept you active, eating right, and managing stress — things we need to control weight and inflammation and fight disease," says Dr. Monique Tello, a primary care physician and healthy lifestyle specialist with Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital.

Ask the doctor

Q. I read that the death rate from COVID-19 is going down, but that people who recover from the infection still can remain sick for a long time. Is that true?

A. It is true, but we don't yet know how big the problem is: COVID-19 has been with us for only a year, and there hasn't been enough time to know the long-term effects.

Ask the doctor

Q. How many hours of sleep do I need each night, and how do I improve the quality of my sleep?

A. Adults need to average between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. If you're over 65, eight hours might be enough. The occasional short night of sleep won't hurt you.

Research we're watching

American adults are gaining weight, according to data from the CDC. Twelve U.S. states now have obesity rates of 35% or higher, compared with just six states in 2017 and nine states in 2018. Experts say the trend is particularly concerning because adults with obesity are more prone to severe outcomes from COVID-19.

According to the CDC report, racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected by obesity. Prevalence rates nationwide were

Ask the doctors

Q. My partner says I've been snoring lately. Are there any home remedies I can use to help me stop?

A. Snoring occurs when muscles in your airway relax during sleep, narrowing the airway and making your breath sounds louder as the air forces its way through. There are a number of strategies that can help. Try sleeping on your side instead of your back, which pushes your tongue to the back of your mouth. Clear nasal congestion resulting from allergies or a stuffy nose. Avoid alcohol (which may act as a sedative) and sleep medications known as benzodiazepines, which may cause your airway tissues to relax, making snoring worse. Losing weight can also help, because surplus tissue, caused by weight gain, can put pressure on and compress the airway, making snoring worse. However, if your snoring does not improve, your partner notices that you have periods during the night where your breathing ­appears to stop, or you regularly feel drowsy during the day, it may be time to pay a visit to your doctor. You could have a condition called obstructive sleep apnea, which may require treatment.

Sleep problems are an all-too-common reality for most older men. They often sleep less deeply and are more easily awakened. They also are more likely to suffer from conditions that affect sleep, such as sleep apnea and restless legs syndrome. Adopting several lifestyle and behavioral changes can help men maintain a proper and healthy sleep cycle.

Fatigue is a common symptom that can be caused by a whole host of factors, from medical conditions to stress and poor sleep. In order to ease ongoing fatigue, it's important to investigate and treat the underlying cause. Fatigue that doesn't respond to interventions or is severe or persistent should be brought to the attention of a doctor. It may be caused by a medical condition.

People who regularly worried about the future and dwelled on the past saw larger drops in cognition and had more harmful brain proteins than those who didn't.

Chronic worrying or ruminating could be bad for your brain. A study published online June 7, 2020, by Alzheimer's & Dementia linked these negative thinking patterns to brain changes that could be associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Study authors found that older adults who regularly engaged in what the authors called repetitive negative thinking were more likely to experience cognitive decline, including memory problems, than those who didn't. They also had higher levels of the proteins beta-amyloid and tau in their brains. The accumulation of these proteins, which create damaging clumps known as plaques and tangles in the brain, is a hallmark of Alzheimer's that begins in the earliest stages of the disease — even before an individual experiences visible symptoms of dementia.