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Can Lack Of Sleep Cause High Blood Pressure?

High blood pressure or hypertension refers to a common health condition, in which long-term force applied by the blood against the artery walls become too much high that it eventually results in many health issues, including cardiac disease. Blood pressure indicates the exact amount of blood pumped by your heart and the amount/extent of blood flow resistance in the arteries. When your heart pumps blood in higher amount it makes the arteries and artery walls narrow to cause you high blood pressure or hypertension.

An individual may have hypertension or high blood pressure for many years without experiencing any symptom. Even you do not have any symptom, your high blood pressure causes damages to your heart and blood vessels, while uncontrolled hypertension increases the risk related to severe health problems, including stroke and heart attack. However, the positive aspect in this case is that doctors and pathologists may easily detect high blood pressure of a patient and once you as a patient know about your high blood pressure, you should start working with the doctor to keep it under control.

Studies show that lack of sleep can cause high blood pressure.⁽¹⁾

Individuals With Less Than 6 hours Of Sleep Have 20% Probability To Cause Hypertension

Research studies conducted about high blood pressure problem have cleared that there is a close link in between the problem of hypertension and amount/numbers of hours, for which a person sleeps. Accordingly, experts have found that individuals slept for less than six hours during the nighttime have 20 percent higher probability to suffer from hypertension.⁽²⁾ One can avoid this problem by getting the amount or hours of sleep every night as recommended by the doctor and it varies among people.

Continued Lack In Sleeping Hours Compounds The Effect On Blood Pressure

Another research study has shown that people slept for only six hours the last night had high blood pressure on the next day than those, who had proper night’s sleep. Furthermore, continuation in the lack of sleeping hours results in compounding the hypertension effect. Thus, with sleep deprivation or without getting adequate sleep for revitalizing your body, you give a huge stress to yourself even without realizing until it becomes too late.

Sleep Apnea Patients Are At Huge Risk To Suffer From High Blood Pressure⁽³⁾

If you are a sleep apnea patient, hypertension will give you an additional problem. The problem of sleep apnea mainly takes place due to relaxation of your back part of the throat and restriction of airflow in your body. Individuals suffering from the problem of sleep apnea remain at relatively higher risk to suffer from high blood pressure.

Whenever you suffer from both sleep apnea and hypertension simultaneously, oxygen flowing in your body reduces significantly. Sleep apnea thus results in increasing blood pressure via reducing the oxygen intake by an individual. Whenever your blood pressure increases, you remain at a relatively higher risk to suffer from severe health problems, like stroke and congestive heart failure.

Practicing Healthy Sleeping Habits To Avoid The Problem

Individuals may easily overcome or avoid the problem of hypertension or high blood pressure by practicing a few healthy sleeping habits, as we have discussed here.

Have A Light Dinner To Avoid Unnecessary Energy Boost: Before you should get into the bed for sleep, you have to do many things to make the nighttime successful. One of the best ways in this case is to have a light dinner and that too as early as possible. This activity helps your body in easy and quick digestion of the food, while avoid unnecessary energy boost right before you have to go to bed.

Avoid Using Any Electronic Device At Least 30 Minutes Prior To Sleep: Next, you should make sure avoiding any electronic device before you should go to bed for sleep. This is because; screens of various electronic devices often emit blue light, which activate the human brain and prevent from closing eyes, as the light emitted from such instruments mimic the sunlight. Instead, you should relax yourself by reading a book; get a warm shower or any other nighttime ritual that will help your brain to know that it is your time to have sleep.

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Can Lack Of Sleep Cause High Blood Pressure?