Ah, if you thought I was going to discuss the health risk of rigorous exercise typically conducted in bed – sorry to disappoint. Yes, in the thrill of the moment – blood pressure might rise a bit with the usual passionate embraces of this type of work out , but it quickly (sometimes disappointingly quickly), drops back down.

The high blood pressure problem this post is about, comes from the tossing and turning in the bed, because you’re not sleeping well.

If you’re being short changed on the SWS phase of sleep , blood pressure climbs.

Old Joes wire up

Researchers from the MrOs Sleep Study (Outcomes of Sleep Disorders in Older Men Study), have been studying the sleeping patterns of a large group of average OLD Joes, for more than 3 years. They have taken the sleep findings and correlated these with blood pressure readings.

784 men were included in the study, when it began, none of them had hypertension, although quite a few of them were a little tubby.

Each guy was hooked up with equipment that would monitor his brain wave patterns, as he slept in his own bed, at home.

The polysomnography equipment recorded

•  frequency of breathing disturbances
•  time in each sleep state
•  number of night time awakenings and
•  sleep duration

Low SWS increased blood pressure

Being overweight is a risk factor for high blood pressure, so is suffering from sleep apnea (breathing disturbances during sleep), but the biggest risk factor, in this group of oldies, was actually being short changed of SWS sleep.

The individuals whose blood pressure climbed during the course of the study, recorded less than 4 % of their sleep time in SWS sleep.

SWS stands for slow wave sleep, it is one of the deeper stages of sleep, during which time you experience non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep and are pretty much dead to the world.

SWS is usually associated with learning and memory, but sleep also regulates metabolism as well as neurohormonal systems. The effect on the sympathetic nervous system, which is a neurohormonal system based on the chemical adrenaline, is thought to be what caused the blood pressure rise in the sleep deprived participants of this study.

Sleep is a pillar of heart health

Not getting enough sleep does more than make you look like a freak of nature and act like a grouch.

It is a pillar of health, unlike the other pillars, diet and physical activity, it doesn’t get too much press.

But your heart hang ups, might just be because it isn’t getting enough sleep.

Let the pressure out and enjoy a peaceful snooze tonight.

Further reading

Laughing is not just good medicine for the soul it helps the heart too	The cardiovascular power of a pain killer (aspirin) unplugged	Looking for a drug-free prescription for a restful night’s sleep ?

Did you learn something new or do you have a different perspective ? I’d love to hear from you so post me a comment below…..