Projo Fitness Blog

People with high blood pressure can benefit from a good night's sleep, according to the Health & Nutrition Letter from Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

"A new study, among the first of its kind to objectively measure sleep duration, reports that for every one-hour reduction in sleep, the risk of hypertension increased 37 percent." according to the newsletter. "Shorter sleep times were similarly linked with higher blood pressure levels and adverse changes in blood pressure.

"Previous studies have suggested that not getting enough sleep may be bad for your blood pressure, but these mostly relied on self-reported data. The new study, led by Kristen L. Knutson of the University of Chicago, monitored participants using actigraphy, in which a device on the wrist measures motion; since movement is reduced during sleep compared with wakefulness, the activity level indicates sleep duration. Sleep was measured twice for three consecutive days each time.

"Knutson and colleagues followed a subset of 535 participants, average age 40 at baseline, in an ongoing study of coronary disease. Given that most people need seven to eight hours of sleep nightly, the study group fell far short of adequate shuteye: 43 percent averaged fewer than six hours of sleep per night, while only 1 percent averaged eight or more hours."

Read the full story here.

 Tags  blood pressure health hypertension sleep Yale

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