NEW YORK: If you want to avoid heart disease, you need to sleep well. Researchers reported on Monday, people with high blood pressure who get less than the standard amount of sleep may face an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
The findings are based on data from 1,255 men and women with high blood pressure who were between 33 and 97 years old; the average age was 70.
The researchers used portable blood pressure monitors to record each participant’s blood-pressure changes over a 24-hour period, and then followed the patients over an average of 50 months.
More than 1,200 Japanese adults with high blood pressure, the investigators found that those who slept for less than 7.5 hours each night were more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke or die of cardiac arrest over a 4-year period.
At particular risk were “short sleepers” who failed to have a blood-pressure dip that normally occurs overnight.
The findings suggest that doctors caring for patients with high blood pressure should ask them about their sleep habits, the researchers report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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