This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant numbers UM1CA186107, U01 CA176726, P01CA87969, U01 HL145386, P30 ES000002, R01 CA163451, and R01 HD101101) and by funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement numbers 101053225). The senior author of the paper is Eva Schernhammer of the Channing Division of Network Medicine.

“This study highlights yet another reason why getting a good night’s sleep is so important.”Ĭo-authors on the paper include Susanne Strohmaier, Rikuta Hamaya, A. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends sleeping seven or more hours a night, and if you cannot fall or stay asleep, it might be worth exploring why that is,” said Haghayegh. “I hope these findings further underscore the crucial role of quality sleep in our overall well-being.

In future clinical studies, he aims to investigate whether sleep medications could have a beneficial effect on blood pressure. He wants to understand why this association exists and how treating one condition may also treat the other. Haghayegh emphasizes that these findings do not indicate causality. Some of the study’s strengths include the larger number of participants and length of follow-up duration. While this study only looked at the association between sleep and hypertension in women, researchers hope to expand their work to include men and nonbinary participants.Ī second limitation is that researchers could only collect data on sleep quality at select time points throughout the study. Heres Our Story- Insomnias founders, Evan, Amy and Tyler, three friends standing at a crossroads in life, decided to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams and open a coffeehouse. Disruptions to the sleep/wake cycle can also influence blood vessel constriction/relaxation and the function of cells that regulate the vascular tone. Specialties: Bringing the quality and craftsmanship of the Coffee industry to the burbs. While the exact nature of the relationship between sleep and risk of hypertension is unknown, Haghayegh said that sleep difficulties can lead to a chain of events that can increase sodium retention, arterial stiffness, and cardiac output, potentially leading to hypertension. Notably, these associations, remained significant after controlling for participant shift work schedules (night versus day shifts) and chronotype (the tendency to keep early bird or night owl hours). Waking up early in the morning was not associated with this increased risk. Similarly, women who had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep were also likelier to develop hypertension. Researchers also found that those who struggled with sleep were likelier to smoke and drink alcohol and have previously gone through menopause.Īmong the 25,987 cases of hypertension documented over the follow-up, women who slept less than seven to eight hours a night had a significantly higher risk of developing hypertension, according to the data collected. Shahab Haghayegh, BWH and Harvard Medical Schoolĭata analyses revealed that women with sleeping difficulties had higher BMIs, lower physical activity, and poorer diets, on average.

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