Does sleeping late cause heart problems?

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I have read your query and would guide in your case. I am sorry for such discomfort you are having. You have asked two queries in the chat. Let me address each one by one. You mentioned you sleep between 2.30 to 3.30 AM and wake up around 6:00 to 8:00 AM. This means your sleep duration is average of four to five hours. The recommended guideline is that adults should sleep seven hours or more per night on regular basis to promote optimal health. Getting less than seven hours of sleep on a regular basis increases risk of several adverse health outcomes. You should increase the length duration of night sleep and reduce afternoon nap to around 30 minutes to one hour of duration. Most probable reason for headache after waking up is due to insufficient sleep duration. I would suggest few habits that could help change your habit of late night sleep. Before that is there any reason of sleeping late at night? Do you have any chronic health conditions like blood pressure, diabetes, dyslipidemia, smoking habits, physical inactivity, etc? Do reply.

Thank you.

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I will suggest a few habits which could help to get you to get early and also have an adequate duration of sleep. Regarding COVID-19 (coronavirus disease), in the above clinical scenario, you are not at a risk of getting infected or sick. I am saying the above because you have already completed the COVID-19 vaccination along with a booster dose and wearing a mask whenever interacting with surrounding people and maintaining a minimum distance while talking. Personal protection from COVID-19 includes:

1) Complete vaccination along with booster dose if eligible.

2) Maintain COVID appropriate behavior to minimize the risk of transmission.

3) If possible, you can suggest or ask the interacting person to wear a mask.

You are completely vaccinated, and following COVID-appropriate behavior, so this reduces the chance of getting infected or sick. Personal awareness is very important in breaking or reducing the transmission of any air-borne infection, including COVID-19.

How was the sleep today?

Is it the same pattern as yesterday?

Any headache post-wake-up today?

Here are the few habits which you should do regularly for better and early sleep-

• During the day time, involve yourself in physical activity. Do regular exercises. Avoid any kind of intense exercise or physical activity before you go to bed at night.
• Limit daytime sleep to 30 minutes and not more than this.
• Stick to the routine for sleep timings.
• Avoid large meals or coffee before bedtime.
• Just before sleep, make sure lights are dim, a comfortable bed with pillows is there, empty yourself with all the mental worries, do not scroll phone, take a bath, keep the room at a temperature that suits you, and hear some meditation music which will promote sleep on time.
• If you are finding it difficult to initiate and maintain sleep even after following proper daily practice, then please visit your local health care doctor to address the problem.

The doctor may prescribe very low-dose medicine if needed to help in getting proper sleep. Regarding your health, you have no risk factors for chronic health conditions, but since you are not getting proper sleep, it may have a health impact. So I would suggest you practice daily habits and do visit a local doctor if you are unable to change your daily habits in spite of working on it. If you have any further related queries about it, please make a reply in the subsequent chat.

Thank you.

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

Thanks for the follow-up.

I have read your query and understand your concern.

The recommended guideline is that adults should sleep seven or more hours per night on a regular basis to promote optimal health, but you are getting sleep in the split way of four hours on average from 2 AM to 8 AM and then again two hours on average from 10 AM to 2 PM.

You have mentioned you have established this kind of sleep pattern for quite a long duration since July last year. Please answer a few questions-

1. How is the sleep quality?

2. Do you feel any lethargy, weakness, brain fog, or cloudiness in your thinking after getting up from sleep?

Sleep quality is very important rather than maintaining sleep duration. However, both are essential in the long term.

If you are feeling normal with this kind of sleep pattern without any post-sleep issues, then there should not be any kind of increased risk or odds of developing a cardiac problem.

Regarding how to promote sleep naturally on time, I would suggest the following:

1. You must do exercise at least 45 minutes a day for five days a week. Aerobic exercise boosts immunity, keeps body organs functioning at their optimum level, and maintains healthy heart and lung function.

2. You must follow your daily routine with adequate nutrition taken on time and take an afternoon nap of 20 minutes only.

3. You must be physically active throughout the day; that makes your body tired enough so that the moment you hit the sack, you feel drowsy.

4. You must have dinner two hours before bedtime.

5. You must avoid watching television before sleep and be away from electronic gadgets for at least half an hour before sleep. Make your room soothing for sleep by dimming the light, taking a bath, and plugging in earphones with relaxing and calming music. Set room temperature that you are comfortable with, neither too cold nor warm temperature of the room.

6. You must avoid tea, coffee, or any drink before bedtime.

7. You must avoid continuous thinking about future that makes your brain alert and awake before sleep.

8. Changing your daily lifestyle habits only would help you get a proper and healthy sleep quality, and a few of them I have listed above.

I hope this helps.

Please follow up if you have any health-related queries.

Take care.

Thank you.

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I read your query and understand your concern.

Technically if someone with a dirty hand touches the faucet to wash hands, then some microbial contamination has got transferred from hand to faucet while touching faucet before washing hands. Now, after washing his hands, if he again touches the faucet, which has already got some contamination due to the above act prior to washing, then there is a likely chance that his hands are again contaminated because the faucet was contaminated.

Ideally, the faucet should also be sprinkled with sanitization spray or soap lather while washing hands.

In reality, a person touches many objects and transfers microbial contamination without awareness in normal daily life, but one should avoid this and remain vigilant of the act of touching the surfaces because that is one of the effective ways to curb the spread of any infection including SARS-CoV-2.

You must not panic about it because reinfection with touching such a contaminated faucet depends on how much microbial load has transferred while touching the faucet with dirty hands, the duration of contact of touch, etc.

Also, to get infected in the above scenario requires repeated exposure, microbial load, and various other factors.

I suggest you adopt personal hygiene manners whenever possible and avoid stressing yourself by thinking about it.

I hope my explanation helps you.

Thank you.

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I read your query and understand your concern.

Definitely, he will not get infected because you cleaned the faucet before he used it.

So do not worry about it and maintain personal hygiene to avoid microbial transmission.

Thank you.

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

I would say that after coming home from outside and touching the outside objects, he must clean his hands, turn the faucet on and wash his hands thoroughly with soap under running water.

Now before turning off the faucet or tap, spray the sanitization liquid over the faucet to prevent the spread of microbial contamination to the washed hand from the faucet, then turn off the faucet and then rinse or sanitize the washed hands by spraying sanitization liquid on the hands.

Or they can ask someone else in the family to open the faucet to wash hands (here, the faucet is not touched with contaminated hands), and then he can turn off the faucet with a clean hand after washing the hands.

Why are you so stressed with it?

I suggest you not to get tense or stress yourself with minute details and just remain aware. Practice personal hygiene whenever possible to avoid microbial contamination transmission and thus avoid the risk of infection.

Thank you.

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

That is your home, so obviously, home members would be touching various household objects, and this limits the spread of infection as there is no one from outside.

You or he just need to clean the home and faucet, water shower knobs, etc., with chemical spray once in two or three days. He will not get sick after touching the faucet or water knobs. Do not worry about it.

After he comes home from outside, ask him to wash his hands with soap and sanitize with sanitizer spray, and then he should touch any household objects to prevent any transfer of contaminants from outside to home; thus, you need not wash every home object whatever he touches because now he would be touching objects with washed hands.

Regarding hand dryness, I suggest you apply a regular moisturizer containing glycerine as an ingredient.

Thank you.

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

Technically speaking, if someone comes from outside, there is a potential chance that he or she can unknowingly contaminate the hands while handling outside objects and thus can transmit microorganisms from outside to the home and household objects.

So even if you have cleaned home objects, there is a potential chance of contamination if someone touches the household objects without washing hands coming from outside.

To prevent this, one should wash hands and sanitize hands coming from outside before touching household objects to prevent possible transmission of contaminants from hands to the household objects.

You do not have to panic about it.

It is not essential that the person and other family members would definitely become sick if he or she touches such objects, but one has to maintain hygiene and awareness of catching potential contaminants while outside and prevent such transfer of contamination to household objects. Therefore, hygiene is of paramount importance in preventing microbial illness.

Thank you.

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

I will try to answer each question you have asked-

1. Are you referring to the faucet?

I am referring to any household object which he touches without washing his hands coming from outside. If he touches the faucet after you have cleaned it, there is very less or nil chance that he will get sick because he is touching already cleaned objects.

2. If his hands are clean and he touches metals, plastics, cartons, and cardboards several times, can he get sick if he does not touch his face?

Since he is touching various objects like metals, plastics, cartons, and cardboard with clean hands and also not touching the face, then such an act will not make him sick, and since the above-mentioned objects are from home and usually they remain clean most of the time, there is nil chance that he will become sick.

3. How long can a disinfectant like Lysol or another one stay on surfaces?

Washing the surface with a disinfectant like Lysol (5 % Cresol) stays almost four hours to five hours, and then the surface should be disinfected again with disinfectant if the surface gets contaminated with dust, unknowingly microbial transfers, contaminated outside shoes, etc. but at home usually disinfection with Lysol done twice a day if there is toddler or infant at home to prevent microbial contamination illness.

Thank you.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

He will not get sick from touching the above-mentioned items. Just merely touching above household objects will not make any person sick because touching is not the way through which virus or other microbial contamination can enter our body (when our hands get contaminated with the virus and unknowingly touches our face, eyes, nose, or mouth with contaminated hands then there is the possibility that virus could enter in our body but remember it does not necessarily mean it would make you sick always).

Also, these items do not always contain sufficient microbial contamination that would make anyone sick by touching such objects. Theoretically, it is possible that the virus from those items can stick to the table or any surface in the home and the skin but remember it would not be able to make you sick because the route of entry of the virus is through the mouth, eyes, and nose and not through the skin. Our skin acts as a protective barrier to prevent the virus or other microbes into the body.

Also, viruses that stick to the surface do not remain alive for a long period because such a virus needs a host to replicate, and the surface does not provide any essential metabolites for replication. Hence, the virus does not remain alive for long periods outside the environment.

Thank you.

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

The virus does not remain for long on external surfaces because the virus cannot metabolize and replicate for a longer duration without any host. Also, the external temperature and pressure conditions affect the longevity of the virus on the external surfaces, so there is no clear-cut guideline about how long viruses can remain alive on the external surfaces. I suggest you clean home surfaces once a day and wash your hands after coming from outside before touching any household objects. You must maintain personal hygiene and spray and clean household objects once daily with disinfectant spray.

Thank you.

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

The virus will not spread throughout the house because the most common mode of spread of the virus is coughing and sneezing. I am trying to say that merely touching household objects with contaminated hands does not lead to spreading the virus throughout the home. Still, one should be cautious and prevent as much as possible to limit contamination.

Thank you.

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

When he comes from outside, it is better to remove all items from the plastic bag after washing his hands. If it contains any eatables, you must wash your hands before you take any food item out of the plastic bag. It is preferred to wash hands after coming from outside and then take out the contents of the plastic bag. This activity would minimize the risk of microbial transfer in the house and is also a healthy way to maintain cleanliness and hygiene. What about your sleep pattern? Are you applying the moisturizer which I suggested for the dry hand?

Thank you.

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

Touching household objects without washing hands will not lead to the spread of microbes throughout the house but may transmit microbes from contaminated hands to the object. Now, you will not get sick by touching the contaminated object, and you should sanitize your hands and the object. Remember that you will not get sick just by touching contaminated household objects, and microbes will not spread in the house. One should practice good personal hygiene so other family members can be prevented from catching the infection.

Thank you.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I read your query and understand your concern.

You do not have to wash your hands and sanitize them 20 to 30 times daily. I think you have an obsession with maintaining cleanliness and avoiding dirt of any kind. You should clean the house once or twice a day, but since you get anxious about the dirt and cleanliness, you wash multiple times, eventually affecting your skin and psychological health. Instead of cleaning the objects, you should focus on your obsession and anxiety arising due to it.

Thank you.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

When you wear a mask, and he is two feet away from you, there is the least possibility of catching the virus because there is social distancing. The mask protects you from inhaling respiratory droplets. The other person does not need to suffer from viral respiratory illness while singing. In our normal surroundings also, there are microbes, but we do not get sick often due to our strong immune system and weak microbial concentration and strength. I agree there is a chance that outside objects may carry microbes, but that does not mean it will necessarily make you sick after you touch your face or eyes. I think you are overthinking it and making yourself anxious most of your time.

Thank you.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

Scratching throat could be due to some allergy or upper respiratory tract infections. Depending upon the cause of throat soreness and whether there is associated discharge while coughing or not, the person present in front would catch the infection. Many factors determine whether a person would catch an infection or not, such as the immune status of the person, infection status of the coughing person, very close contact, and inhalation of the droplet. He will not get sick, but he should change his habit because it can rarely cause infection. I have mentioned earlier also that viruses can stick to the material like plastic, but the longevity of the virus is variable.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

If your husband has opened the door with a t-shirt he will not catch the virus. The entry of virus occurs through following ways:

• Inhalation of a sneezed droplet that contains the virus.
• Touching surfaces that are contaminated with the virus and its entry through the eyes, nose, or mouth.

You must be knowing these ways of virus transmission but it does not mean that if you are exposed to the virus you would definitely catch the infection and develop the disease subsequently.

Many factors are involved whether the exposure would lead to disease development or not like:

• Immunity and vaccine status of the individual.
• Exposure duration and close proximity of the individual to an infected person.
• Mode of transmission.
• Any chronic health illness of the individual.

In the hospital many times it happens that I touch my eyes or nose unknowingly after palpating a patient or touching the door knob but that does not mean I get sick everytime, however, I always practice protocols and avoid such behavior as much as possible and sanitize my hands after I get an awareness about it. Sneezing a few times does not mean that he is sick. You need to observe all the classical symptoms he develops in another few days. It is good to read that you have cleaned the bathroom and faucet. That is the only thing you can do after you realize that there is a chance of contamination. You can minimize these activities, however, you cannot completely get rid of them. I suggest you to take less anxiety about the virus transmission and sickness but be aware and practice protocols according the medical guidelines.

I hope this helps.

Thank you.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

The positive aspects of the above query are that both of them were sitting and talking at a distance of six feet from one another, none of them were visibly sick, and they had no symptoms like cough or sneezing from which I can presume that both are healthy. Also, both of them put on their masks intermittently. However, ideally, people should mask up most of the time, especially when talking to an unknown person or in social gatherings. Considering your current query, they will not get sick as they have maintained a preventive approach, and both of them are familiar with each other, which means that none of them had an active infection when they met. I suggest you practice guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus and get vaccinated on time.

How is your sleep pattern now? Are you getting quality sleep? Are your early morning headaches subsided?

I hope this helps.

Thank you.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

Your husband will not get sick, and there is no chance of him spreading it in the house. Therefore, even you will not get sick either. I hope this helps.

Thank you.

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

In your query, your husband and his friend know each other. Since both are healthy, there is almost zero risk of catching the infection. I suggest not to be anxious and not to overthink. I feel sorry that you remain anxious most of the time, and I want to help you.

Please follow up if you have any other queries.

Take care.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

Does your husband have symptoms like headache, running nose, dry cough, etc.? Does your husband's friend have any symptoms? Is the home health kit you plan to use approved to detect COVID 19 infection? If yes, you can test the sample using the test kit and analyze the result, whether it is positive or negative. Please read all the instructions carefully in the health kit before testing the sample.

I hope this helps.

Thank you.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I read your query and understand your concern.

Touching external objects like door handles, furniture, and tickets, would not cause a viral infection. However, any person might get infected with the contagious COVID-19 virus (in the above circumstance) only after touching their own eyes or mouth with a hand. Also, the hand should get contaminated with the virus after touching an external object. That is why we should carry hand sanitizer to rub our hands often after touching external things if we are in the market to buy our groceries. There is a possible chance that the external object might be contaminated with the virus. We should also prevent ourselves from touching our nose or eyes with the contaminated hand and wearing a mask for a maximum duration of time if we are outside, if possible. You and your husband should take the full vaccine dose as recommended in your area to maximize complete immunity and protection.

Do not worry; you will not get infected while you skate on the rink as you take all precautionary measures.

Please follow up if you have any further related queries about it.

Thank you.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

All the people visiting there would be anxious about the same issue you are having. Hopefully, everyone on their behalf would take all preventive measures to avoid unnecessary contact with each other while skating. There might also be rules inside the skating rink that would make it compulsory for everyone to wear masks while skating.

I suggest you take preventive measures like wearing a mask, carrying a small hand sanitizer with yourself, rubbing it before and after you finish your skating, and maintaining distance, especially with people you suspect are somewhat sick or not wearing a mask at all. As you are attentive and aware and taking precautions in the skating rink, you and your husband will not get infected, and any place in the skating rink would be safer to skate.

Please follow up if you have any further related queries about it.

Thank you.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

Have you not changed the scheduling of the sleep pattern?

I thought by now you would have changed sleep timing and gotten sleep in the night with a duration of around six hours without interruption. So why would you wake up again at 7 AM or 8 AM in the morning? Any specific reason?

You have adjusted to this sleep schedule pattern for quite a long I think, more than six months. Since you have adjusted to the above routine and do not have any risk factors for developing heart disease (which I asked about in the earlier query), it is unlikely that the above routine would lead to health complications later in life. Sleep duration should be a minimum of 6 hours without any interruption.

Please follow up if you have any further related queries about it.

Thank you.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

You have written your daily schedule, which you do at home. You have to alter specific work patterns, give less time, or do some work at a pace depending on the priority, and skip a few works you think are being done daily.

Based on the above routine, I am suggesting a few changes that might help you shrink your daily routine and get you to sleep before or around 12 AM.

1. You may use an ear plug if shower sound disturbs your sleep, and even if you slightly wake up despite using an ear plug, promote yourself to sleep again.

2. Do not interrupt and break your morning sleep. Morning sleep is very vital for health. It is fine that you begin to sleep late at night, but you should continue your sleep without a break in the morning. This would help you complete your sleep duration by 9 AM only, and then you resume your daily chores activity (which you are doing now after getting up after 7 or 8 AM).

3. Do some aerobic exercise daily for at least 45 minutes, like fast walking, jogging on the treadmill, or in the open air. Your breathing rate should increase while exercising (not too much). This would impact overall well-being and energy levels, promote immunity, boost good cholesterol levels, healthy lungs, and positive thinking, and keep you energetic the whole day.

4. In your daily routine schedule, I find you are devoting more time from 4 pm to 9 or 10 pm doing daily home chores and activities. What takes such a long time? You can curtail a few activities here if possible to work and feed your birds, maximum till 11 PM or 12, including dinner. You should go to sleep by 12.30 AM.

5. Before sleep, take a bath, turn off the light and keep the dim light on, play some soothing, sleep-inducing music, do not think of any daily topic, and you will get sleep and if you do not interrupt morning sleep, then ideally by 9 AM you would complete your sleep duration followed by daily morning exercise too

Please make a few changes to your daily routine lifestyle, and add daily aerobic exercise for 45 minutes to promote healthy and early sleep.

I hope you find my reply helpful.

Thank you.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

1. How is your sleep pattern?

2. Did you make any adjustments to your daily schedule?

You are trying to say that you accidentally opened the lid of a bowl containing cooked rice while cleaning your kitchen with a detergent spray. You suspect that the detergent spray fumes might have fallen over the cooked rice while cleaning. However, the spray was about two feet away from the food.

Is there any accidental spill of detergent spray unknowingly over the rice bowl or very close to the rice bowl, even in the minute amount?

Kindly reply to the above questions for further suggestions.

Thank you.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

You mentioned that you might have sprayed the detergent a bit on the food and closed the lid. My firm and sincere suggestion would be not to eat the rice and throw it away. There is no point in risking your health after eating detergent-sprayed rice, which you suspect might be a chance.

You do not know how much in concentration the food was exposed to spray, and the rice's palatability would have changed completely. How can you eat such food which smells or tastes like detergent spray?

Your sleep pattern is similar to the old schedule; however, it is good to read that you are trying to make some amendments to the schedule, as sometimes your sleep pattern is better.

I hope I was helpful to you.

Thank you.