Key points:
- Sleeping less than 7 hours is associated with a 7% increased risk of developing high blood pressure.
- Hypertension risk increases to 11% when sleep duration is less than 5 hours.
- When compared with men, women who get too little sleep have a greater risk of developing high blood pressure.
New research shows that sleeping fewer than seven hours is associated with a higher risk of developing high blood pressure. This data, presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session, provides consistent evidence about the link between sleep patterns and hypertension for the first time.
The research team pooled data from 16 studies that evaluated hypertension incidence in 1,044,035 people from six countries who did not have a prior history of high blood pressure. They found that short sleep duration was significantly associated with a higher risk of developing hypertension after adjusting for demographic and cardiovascular risk factors.
Researchers found that sleeping less than seven hours was associated with a 7% increased risk of developing high blood pressure. This risk jumped to 11% when sleep duration was less than five hours.
“Based on the most updated data, the less you sleep, the more likely you will develop high blood pressure in the future,” said study author Kaveh Hosseini, professor at the Tehran Heart Center. “Getting seven to eight hours of sleep, as is recommended by sleep experts, may be the best for your heart too.”
There were no age-based differences in the association between sleep duration and hypertension, which surprised the researchers as sleep patterns shift with age. Interestingly, women who reported less than seven hours of sleep had a 7% greater risk of developing high blood pressure when compared with men. It is not clear if this sex difference is clinically relevant, but the heightened risk of too little sleep for women should be studied.
The results of the study highlight the importance of patients discussing their sleep patterns with their health care team, especially if they have conditions like sleep apnea that disrupt sleep.
Researchers acknowledge the limitations of the study including the use of self-reported sleep duration questionnaires, but feel the results warrant further study.
“Further research is required to evaluate the association between sleep duration and high blood pressure using more accurate methods like polysomnography,” explained Hosseini. “The variations in reference sleep duration underline the need for standardized definition in sleep research to enhance the comparability and generalizability of findings across diverse studies.”