An extra hour of sleep can lower blood pressure, says study

A recent study has found that getting 8 hours of sleep helps ward off high blood pressure.

11:50 05 December 2012

A recent study conducted by researchers from Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA, have confirmed that sleeping an hour earlier and getting 8 hours of sleep every night is an effective way to ward off high blood pressure.

Researchers monitored 22 middle-aged men and women who either had prehypertension or on target to reach dangerous levels.

 

All the volunteers reveal that they sleep for 7 hours or less. 13 of them were asked to sleep an hour early while the rest were asked to stick with their normal sleeping routines.

In just six weeks, those who slept longer enjoyed lower, normal blood pressure. Blood pressure reading dropped sharply by between eight and 14mmHG.

Researchers are hoping that because of this study, extra sleep would be prescribed as a remedy for high blood pressure.

‘These preliminary findings have to be interpreted with caution. But future investigations should look at whether increasing sleep duration serves as an effective strategy in the treatment of hypertension.’