Getting a good night's sleep is crucial when you have heart failure. Your body regulates and repairs many systems while you sleep, including your hormones, muscle tissue, insulin and immune system.

Plus, proper rest gives you the energy you need to manage your health. When you're refreshed from a good night's sleep, you're better able to manage the stressors that come your way. You can make better decisions about what to eat and have more energy and motivation to exercise.

Yet sleeping well can sometimes be difficult when you have heart failure. Body changes, stresses and treatments of heart failure may actually interfere with sleep. Common sleep challenges associated with heart failure include:

• Frequent nighttime urination. Diuretics (water pills) are a frequent culprit. If you take these medications, you may need to urinate frequently, even at night. Getting up to go to the bathroom can disrupt your sleep. Ask your care team to help you time your diuretic so it's least disruptive to your sleep. Limiting your fluid intake close to bedtime also may help.
• Breathing problems when lying down. Fluid buildup due to heart failure may cause shortness of breath, difficulty breathing or discomfort with breathing when you lie down. These symptoms mean your heart failure is not well controlled. Report these sleep issues to your care team. While your medications are being adjusted, try raising your body with extra pillows to help your breathing until your heart failure is better controlled.
• Nighttime worries. Anxious thoughts about your health and the stress of everyday life may creep into your mind at night, keeping you wide awake — no matter how tired you were when you climbed into bed. To fall asleep more easily, set aside at least an hour to wind down before bed each night. Try to establish a soothing bedtime routine, such as taking a warm shower, reading a book or listening to soft music.

Your goal should be seven to eight hours of sleep a night. Sleeping this amount will play a role in managing your heart failure.

One possible cause of poor sleep is sleep apnea. This sleep disorder causes you to repeatedly stop and start breathing during sleep. It's very common in people who have heart failure.

Stopping breathing leads to drops in the oxygen in your blood and the activation of harmful stress hormones, both of which can hurt your heart. Sleep apnea can worsen heart function, make your blood pressure hard to control, cause heart rhythm problems and increase fatigue.

Clues that you might have sleep apnea include:

• Feeling tired even after a full night's sleep
• Daytime drowsiness
• Snoring
• Prolonged pauses in breathing while sleeping

If you or your sleep partner notices any of these signs and symptoms, talk with your doctor.