When it comes to looking after your heart, most people think of diet and exercise straight away. But there’s another pillar that quietly plays just as big of a role: sleep. The truth is, your eating habits and your sleep habits feed into each other every single day, creating a cycle that can either support your heart — or strain it. Understanding this relationship is the first step to making small changes that add up to a healthier life.
When summer nights turn sticky and restless, it’s not just the temperature outside that keeps you awake — it’s how your body, bedding, and environment respond to the heat. The truth is, temperature plays a major role in how well we sleep, and when things get too warm, your body struggles to drift into the deep, restorative rest it needs.
Have you ever wondered why those late-night snacks seem so tempting after a rough night’s sleep? It turns out that getting a good night’s sleep isn’t just about rest and recovery; it can also be a powerful tool for supporting healthier eating habits. By unpacking the science, we can see how getting a good night’s sleep might help you make healthier food choices.
Spring has arrived — and with it, the scent of blooming flowers, longer days, and unfortunately for many Australians, the return of hay fever. Hay fever (or seasonal allergic rhinitis) is an allergic reaction to airborne particles like pollen, mould spores, and dust. It causes classic symptoms such as itchy eyes, sneezing, congestion, and runny noses. For those managing sleep apnea with CPAP therapy, these springtime sniffles can make a good night’s rest more of a challenge.
Around one in five Australians work shifts outside the standard nine-to-five. From hospital wards to warehouses, shift work keeps our world running — but it can take a serious toll on the body, especially the heart
One of the strongest links to sleep apnea is obesity. In fact, some studies suggest that 60-90% of people with sleep apnea are overweight or obese. Carrying extra weight around the neck and abdomen can narrow the airway, making it harder to breathe normally at night. This relationship between sleep apnea and obesity goes both ways. Obesity not only raises the risk of sleep apnea, but sleep apnea itself can make it harder to lose weight.
Sleep is meant to be the body’s time to rest and repair — but for people with sleep apnea, it can become a nightly struggle that puts more than just rest at risk. Sleep apnea is a common sleep-related breathing disorder where a person’s breathing repeatedly slows or stops throughout the night. Over time, these interruptions can take a serious toll on the body, including raising the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes — and even stroke.
It’s a common belief that the older you get, the less sleep you need. But that’s simply not true. Older adults actually need about the same amount of sleep as everyone else — around seven to nine hours a night.1 What often changes with age isn’t the need for sleep, but the pattern of sleep. Many older people tend to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier than they did in their younger years.
If you’ve ever felt guilty for taking an afternoon nap, thinking it might throw your sleep schedule out of balance, here’s some good news — napping doesn’t automatically ruin your night’s rest. In fact, when timed and managed well, a short daytime snooze can be one of the best ways to recharge your body and mind.
