Hypertension and Insomnia

There are many reasons why a person may be sleep deprived - perhaps they erroneously think that their bodies can get by with less than 7 to 8 hours of sleep. Others try to get adequate sleep but suffer from some type of insomnia. Either way there are consequences to being sleep deprived - and it's not just being tired the next day.

The one I will focus on today is high blood pressure. Did you know that hypertension and sleep deprivation go together? Researchers looked at studies on insomnia and hypertension from several different research databases like MEDLINE and EMBASE and found that the analysis of these studies, "shows that experimental sleep deprivation, short sleep duration, and persistent insomnia are associated with increased blood pressure and increased risk of hypertension, even after controlling for other risk factors."

Curr Pharm Des. 2013;19(13):2409-19. Sleep loss and hypertension: a systematic review.

High blood pressure is a serious health disorder that damages the walls of our arteries and can lead to a stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney disease, eye damage or peripheral artery disease (blocked arteries in your legs or arms).

Take your sleep seriously. Make it a priority to get 7-8 hours of sleep. Turn off the TV or computer, put away your work (you'll be more productive if well rested anyway) and address your insomnia if you have trouble falling or staying asleep.

There are other physical effects that lack of sleep can cause besides high blood pressure. Find out what they are here: