Less sleep associated with high, worsening blood pressure in middle age: report

Almost one-third of Americans have hypertension or high blood pressure, a condition that contributes to seven million deaths worldwide each year, according to background information in the article. "Identifying a novel lifestyle risk factor for high blood pressure could lead to new interventions to prevent or reduce high blood pressure," the authors write. "Laboratory studies of short-term sleep deprivation have suggested potential mechanisms for a causal link between sleep loss and hypertension." Sleep deprivation is associated with increased activity in the sympathetic nervous system, which controls the body's stress response. Over time, this activation could contribute to high blood pressure. Kristen L. Knutson of the University of Chicago and his colleagues studied 578 adults who first had their blood pressure and other clinical, demographic and health variables measured between 2000 and 2001. In 2003 and 2005, the researchers measured sleep duration by using surveys and wrist actigraphy, in which a sensor is worn on the wrist to record periods of rest and activity. Blood pressure, demographic and self-reported sleep information were measured again in 2005 and 2006; Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.chinaview.cn for full version