High blood pressure describes what happens when the force of blood pushing against a person’s artery walls is consistently too high. Overtime, this can pose grave health risks such as cardiovascular disease. It is well understood that certain activities can hike a person’s blood pressure, such as eating too much salt. A recent study also underscores the importance of getting a good night’s sleep to stave off the risks.
Blood pressure is one of the best predictors of cardiovascular health
Caroline Doyle
According to a study published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, a bad night’s sleep may result in a spike in blood pressure that night and the following day.
The study offers one possible explanation for why sleep problems have been shown to increase the risk of heart attack, stroke and even death from cardiovascular disease.
The link between poor sleep and cardiovascular health problems is increasingly well-established in scientific literature, but the reason for the relationship is less understood.
Researchers set out to learn more about the connection in a study of 300 men and women, ages 21 to 70, with no history of heart problems.
Participants wore portable blood pressure cuffs for two consecutive days.
The cuffs took participants’ blood pressure during 45-minute intervals throughout each day and also overnight.
At night, participants wore actigraphy monitors – wristwatch-like devices that measure movement – to help determine their “sleep efficiency”, or the amount of time in bed spent sleeping soundly.
Overall, those who had lower sleep efficiency showed an increase in blood pressure during that restless night.
They also had higher systolic blood pressure – the top number in a patient’s blood pressure reading – the next day.
Blood pressure is one of the best predictors of cardiovascular health
Caroline Doyle
“Blood pressure is one of the best predictors of cardiovascular health,” said lead study author Caroline Doyle, a graduate student in the UA Department of Psychology.
Doyle added: “There is a lot of literature out there that shows sleep has some kind of impact on mortality and on cardiovascular disease, which is the number one killer of people in the country. We wanted to see if we could try to get a piece of that story – how sleep might be impacting disease through blood pressure.”
The study underlines just how important a good night’s sleep can be.
It’s not just the amount of time you spend in bed, but the quality of sleep you’re getting, said study co-author John Ruiz, UA associate professor of psychology.
Improving sleep quality can start with making simple changes and being proactive, Ruiz said.
“Keep the phone in a different room,” he suggested.
Ruiz added: ”If your bedroom window faces the east, pull the shades. For anything that’s going to cause you to waken, think ahead about what you can do to mitigate those effects.”
For those with chronic sleep troubles, Doyle advocated cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, or CBTI, which focuses on making behavioural changes to improve sleep health.
CBTI is slowly gaining traction in the medical field and is recommended by both the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine as the first line of treatment for insomnia.
Doyle and Ruiz hope their findings – showing the impact even one fitful night’s rest can have on the body – will help illuminate just how critical sleep is for heart health.
“This study stands on the shoulders of a broad literature looking at sleep and cardiovascular health,” Doyle said.
She added: “This is one more study that shows something is going on with sleep and our heart health. Sleep is important, so whatever you can do to improve your sleep, it’s worth prioritising.”
According to the NHS, other factors that may raise a person’s blood pressure include:
- Being over the age of 65
- Being overweight
- Being of African or Caribbean descent
- Having a relative with high blood pressure
- Eating too much salt and not eating enough fruit and vegetables
- Not getting enough exercise
- Drinking too much alcohol or coffee (or other caffeine-based drinks)
- Smoking
According to the NHS, the average person needs between six and nine hours sleep a night.
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