Sleep and Blood Pressure Relationship

According to a recent Columbia University study, people who do not get enough sleep faced an increased risk of blood pressure. The findings by the Mailman School of Public Health and the College of Physicians and Surgeons. The results of the study are reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

"Sleep allows the heart to slow down and blood pressure to drop for a significant part of the day," said the study's lead author Dr. James E. Gangwisch. "However, people who sleep for only short durations raise their average 24-hour blood pressure and heart rate. This may set up the cardiovascular system to operate at an elevated pressure."

According to the author, 24 percent of people in the age range of 32 to 59 who slept for five hours or less each night developed hypertension. By comparison, only 12 percent of those studied who got seven or eight hours of sleep developed high blood pressure.

Subjects who slept five or fewer hours per night continued to be significantly more likely to be diagnosed with hypertension. Other factors like diabetes, obesity, exercise, salt, drinking alcohol, smoking, depression, age, education, gender and ethnicity were factored to make sure the study reflected strictly the amount of sleep.