BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhuanet) -- U.S. researchers say middle-aged adults who get little sleep are more prone to suffer from high blood pressure.
Kristen Knutson of the University of Chicago reported Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine
"people who didn't sleep as much were at greater risk of developing hypertension over five years."
The study--among the first to directly measure sleep duration in middle-aged adults-- consisting of 578-adults with an average age of 40, were allowed to go to sleep after taking blood pressure reading, including measuring how long each person slept.
Only 1 percent were found to have slept for eight hours or more, with study participants sleeping six hours on an average. Sleeping less was far more likely to develop high blood pressure over five years, with each hour of lost sleep raising the risk.
"If, you compare six hours of sleep to five hours of sleep, the five-hour sleepers will have 37 percent greater odds of developing hyper-tension," Knutson said.
The study also showed people, particularly black men, got far less sleep than white women, who were least likely to develop high blood pressure. As well, the study reveals poor quality sleepers to be at a higher blood pressure risk, including those who snored.
