The impact of sleep on heart health: contemporary research and medical practice.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review discusses current research (between July 2024 and January 2026) on sleep disorders and cardiovascular disease, highlighting underlying biological processes, clinical outcomes, and therapeutic strategies.

RECENT FINDINGS: More than a billion adults worldwide are affected by sleep disorders that significantly increase heart disease risk. Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is increasingly recognised as an independent predictor of major cardiovascular complications, with nocturnal hypoxaemia emerging as a critical marker for risk stratification. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) may decrease cardiovascular complications in selected high-risk patients with OSA. In addition, irregular sleep patterns and insufficient sleep duration are associated with arrhythmias and cardiac failure. Sleep disruption contributes to adverse cardiac remodelling through mechanisms involving oxidative stress and autonomic dysfunction. Genetic studies further support a direct causal relationship between OSA and coronary heart disease. Sleep has been added by the American Heart Association to its Life's Essential 8 framework, emphasising its role in cardiovascular health.

SUMMARY: Sleep disorders represent a modifiable cardiovascular risk factor that warrants systematic assessment and targeted management. Optimal sleep health encompasses sufficient duration, appropriate timing, and regularity. Treatment of sleep disorders-particularly OSA with CPAP therapy in carefully selected high-risk populations-can confer cardiovascular benefits.