Sleep Deprivation Plus Stress Hurts Blood Pressure

(WebMD) — A stressful day after a poor night of sleep may be an especially bad combination for blood pressure, a new study shows.

Researchers recruited 20 healthy young adults and measured their blood pressure at rest and then after a stressful task, in this case, giving an impromptu speech where they had to defend themselves for a supposed transgression — either running a stop sign or taking someone’s wallet.

A week later, after staying up all night, study participants returned to the lab to take the tests again.

Systolic blood pressures, the top number on a blood pressure reading, climbed about 10 points higher when fatigued people were delivering their speeches compared to when they were doing the same task well rested.

“Lack of sleep in combination with stress caused a much higher increase in blood pressure,” says study researcher Peter L. Franzen, PhD, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh’s Sleep Medicine Institute.

It suggests that not getting enough sleep may be involved in the development of cardiovascular disease, he says.

While 10 extra points may not sound like a huge difference, experts who study blood pressure say it’s important.

“That’s clinically relevant,” says David Pollock, PhD, regents professor of medicine at the Georgia Health Sciences University in Augusta.

Previous studies have shown that not getting enough sleep can raise blood pressure, as can stress. But few have looked at what happens when sleepy people are under pressure.

Read More >>