Getting to the Heart of Sleep Health

This podcast takes a deeper look at sodium as a key, modifiable factor influencing blood pressure, cardiovascular health, and cardiometabolic risk. Expert faculty review the evidence linking sodium intake to hypertension and adverse cardiovascular outcomes, discuss the physiologic mechanisms through which excess sodium affects the body, and highlight populations that may be especially sensitive to sodium exposure. The conversation also explores often-overlooked sources of sodium, including certain medications, and examines emerging connections between sodium intake and sleep health. Listeners will gain practical strategies for identifying excess sodium exposure, counseling patients on achievable sodium reduction, and incorporating evidence-based lifestyle approaches into comprehensive cardiovascular risk management.

This episode explores the critical connections between hypertension, sodium intake, and sleep health—three interrelated factors that significantly influence blood pressure control and cardiovascular risk. Expert faculty discuss the latest evidence on how excess sodium and insufficient or disrupted sleep contribute to hypertension, the physiologic mechanisms behind these relationships, and the impact on different patient populations. Listeners will gain practical insights into identifying overlooked contributors to poor blood pressure control and learn how to integrate lifestyle and behavioral strategies alongside pharmacologic treatment to support more effective, patient-centered care.

An estimated 50 to 70 million American adults have a chronic, or ongoing sleep disorder. In this episode, experts will provide an overview of the epidemiology of different types of sleep problems and disorders.  Learn more about the difference classifications of sleep disorders including the criteria, treatment, and relationship to cardiovascular disease.

Sleep quality is consequential to cardiovascular health. Studies show short sleep duration or poor sleep quality are associated with high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, and atherosclerosis. Learn more in this vodcast about the characteristics and etiologies of insomnia. We also discuss how to assess insomnia in an office visit and what other conditions may present with insomnia.

Many patients that you see in clinical practice have sleep issues, but they will not share that unless they are prompted about it. In this podcast leaders in sleep medicine discuss Getting to the Heart of Sleep Health. Drs. Younghoon Kwon, Marie-Pierre St-Onge and Nancy Redeker explore how patients may have multiple symptoms, and they're often accompanied by dissatisfaction with sleep and patients reporting that they don't feel refreshed when they wake up in the morning. Learn from experts in sleep medicine about talking with your patients.