Too Little Sleep May Raise Blood Pressure

The next time someone complains of high blood pressure, tell them to sleep it off. New research, just published in the journal Hypertension, suggests that that may be possible–over a sufficient period of time. As the New York Times reports, the study of more than 4,800 men and women, ages 32 to 59, found that those who
got five hours of sleep a night or less were about 60 percent more
likely to develop hypertension than those who slept six to eight hours. That’s the good news. That bad news is this: If you’re already getting six to eight hours sleep and still have high blood pressure, you can forget about sleeping it off. The study found that people who got nine or more hours of sleep were
no less likely to have high blood pressure than those who slept six to
eight hours. Read more in Hypertension, then take a long nap.