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Back to Cardiology Articles
Wednesday 5th April, 2006
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Middle aged people who sleep 5 hours or less,
may be increasing their risk of developing high
blood pressure.
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If you're middle age and sleep five hours or less a night,
you may be increasing your risk of developing high blood
pressure, according to research 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 James E. Gangwisch,
Ph.D., lead author of the study and post-doctoral fellow at
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
"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."
Gangwisch said that 24 percent of people ages 32 to 59 who
slept for five or fewer hours a night developed hypertension
versus 12 percent of those who got seven or eight hours of
sleep. Subjects who slept five or fewer hours per night
continued to be significantly more likely to be diagnosed with
hypertension after controlling for factors such as obesity,
diabetes, physical activity, salt and alcohol consumption,
smoking, depression, age, education, gender, and ethnicity.
The researchers conducted a longitudinal analysis of data
from the Epidemiologic Follow-up Studies of the first National
Health and Nutrition Examination Study (NHANES I). The analysis
is based on NHANES I data from 4,810 people ages 32 to 86 who
did not have high blood pressure at baseline. The 1982-84
follow-up survey asked participants how many hours they slept at
night. During eight to 10 years of follow-up, 647 of the 4,810
participants were diagnosed with hypertension.
Compared to people who slept seven or eight hours a night,
people who slept five or fewer hours a night also exercised less
and were more likely to have a higher body mass index. (BMI is a
measurement used to assess body fatness). They were also more
likely to have diabetes and depression, and to report daytime
sleepiness.
"We had hypothesized that both BMI and a history of diabetes
would mediate the relationship between sleep and blood pressure,
and the results were consistent with this," Gangwisch said.
Sleep deprivation has been shown previously to increase
appetite and compromise insulin sensitivity.
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Short sleep duration was linked to a new diagnosis of high blood
pressure among middle-aged participants, but the association was
not observed among people age 60 or older, he said. Gangwisch
said the differences between the younger and older subjects
might be explained by the fact that advanced age is associated
with difficulties falling and staying asleep. Another factor
could be that subjects suffering from hypertension, diabetes,
and obesity would be less likely to survive into their later
years.
Among study limitations, researchers found that high blood
pressure often goes undetected. An analysis of NHANES III data
showed that over 30 percent of people who had high blood
pressure didn't know they had it.
Since the study is based on observational data, Gangwisch
said more research is needed to confirm the association between
short sleep duration and high blood pressure. "We need to
investigate the biological mechanisms and, if confirmed, design
interventions that will help people modify sleep behavior," he
said.
Gangwisch said the study's main message is clear: "A good
night's sleep is very important for good health."
Sources:
American Heart Association.
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