Experts have found out that people who cannot sleep deeply stand the risk of becoming hypertensive, writes JAYNE AUGOYE
Sleep
is a vital part of human existence. An adequate slumber helps promote a
healthy heart, reduces stress, fight depression while also energising
the body. When an individual does not get enough sleep at night, the
body is unable to heal because the human system produces more protein
during sleep, which, in turn, allows the cells to repair any damages.
While
various studies have linked chronic sleep disorders to low levels of
sleep, to risks of heart disease, obesity and reduced life span, a new
research shows that people who get the least deep sleep each night have a
higher risk of hypertension.
The study, published in the
journal of Hypertension, is one of the first to find that it is the
quality of your sleep at night - and not how many hours it lasts - that
can affect your risk for high blood pressure.
The aim of
the study, carried out by researchers at Harvard Medical School, was to
look specifically at the slow-wave stages of sleep, which are said to
be made up of about 90 minutes to two hours of a normal night sleep.
This time frame also represents the deepest hours of sleep.
While
trying to discover the effect of deep sleep on health, the scientists
examined 784 healthy men who were part of an ongoing sleep study and did
not have signs of high blood pressure at the start of the research.
During the three-and- a-half year study, the blood pressure of the men
was checked at various times while their levels of slow-wave sleep were
monitored at home by a machine.
After examining them for a
number of variables, the researchers found that the men who spent the
least time in slow-wave or deep sleep were the most likely to develop
high blood pressure. Although a night of normal sleep should consist of
about 25 per cent slow-wave sleep, the researchers say that the men in
the study who had the highest risk for hypertension managed to enjoy
deep sleep for no more than 4 per cent of their total sleep each night.
The researchers found that the men with the least deep sleep were more
likely to have sleep apnea and tended to sleep less over all.
Explaining
the outcome of the research further, an author of the study and a
professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School, Dr Susan Redline,
says that although the study examined only men, she believes the
results will also apply to women who fail to get enough deep sleep.
She
says, “During slow-wave sleep, the brain’s electrical activity slows
down, as do a person’s heart rate, adrenaline levels and blood pressure.
The average person’s blood pressure falls about 10 millimeters of
mercury during slumber, a dip that largely occurs when deep sleep sets
in. This nightly fall in blood pressure is a good thing. It is also
known that the areas of the brain that regulate sleep patterns have a
lot of crosstalk with areas of the brain that release hormones and other
mediators that influence blood pressure. When those areas of the brain
are not entering slow-wave sleep, it may interfere with various brain
signals that influence blood pressure.”
The researchers
also reveal that an adequate amount of slow-wave sleep can be influenced
by a number of factors. According to them, any condition like loud
snoring, sleep apnea or restless legs syndrome that disrupts your sleep
at night can shorten your slow-wave sleep, as can medications. Even your
age can have an effect especially since deep sleep declines as one gets
older.
Suggesting ways to encourage a deep night sleep,
the researchers say that various studies show that being more physically
and cognitively active can increase the amount of time you spend in
deep sleep at night.
“Some of that research comes from
animals,” Dr. Redline notes. “If you give animals more tasks to do
during the day they have more slow-wave sleep at night.”
The
only way to know precisely the amount of time you drift into deep sleep
each night, they say, is through an overnight sleep study. But the key
to finding this out, according to Redline, is to assess whether you feel
rested in the morning and alert and ready to go after seven to eight
hours of sleep.
“If you’re feeling tired and not refreshed
after a full night’s sleep, that is a good indication that you need to
talk to your doctor, and then your doctor would decide whether you need
to see a sleep specialist,” she says.
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