Mount Sinai study shows how the heart and brain interact to influence sleep patterns and help with recovery
A heart attack can trigger a desire to get more sleep, allowing the heart to heal and reduce inflammation—and this happens because the heart sends special signals to the brain, according to a new Mount Sinai study. This research is the first to demonstrate how the heart and brain communicate with each other through the immune system to promote sleep and recovery after a major cardiovascular event.
The novel findings, published October 30 in Nature, emphasize the importance of increased sleep after a heart attack, and suggest that sufficient sleep should be a focus of post-heart-attack clinical management and care, including in the intensive care units, where sleep is frequently disrupted, along with cardiac rehabilitation.