Researchers in Japan report that adults who don’t get enough sleep face an increased risk of heart disease. The study, which involved more than 1200 people who had high blood pressure, found that those who got less than 7.5 hours of sleep per night had a 68% greater chance of suffering a heart attack, stroke, or cardiac death. A subset of the study participants who got less than 7.5 hours of sleep a night and also experienced elevated overnight blood pressure had a fourfold increase in cardiovascular problems.

The findings suggest that doctors caring for patients with high blood pressure should ask them about their sleep habits, the researchers report in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study did not address the effect of sleep time on people with normal blood pressure.

The researchers suspect that a lack of sleep leads to increased nervous system activity throughout the day, which may in turn stress the cardiovascular system. Previous research has demonstrated that inadequate sleep can contribute to conditions such as obesity and diabetes, and is also associated with risk factors for cardiovascular disease including sleep-disordered breathing and elevated overnight blood pressure.

If you have high blood pressure, you may want to talk to your doctor about ways to improve your sleep habits. You might also want to ask him or her about enrolling you in a sleep study that can examine your nighttime breathing and blood pressure. Many people who have sleep disorders such as sleep apnea or elevated overnight blood pressure have no idea they are affected.

The Healia Health Community on sleep disorders allows you to ask questions about these and other sleep problems. Find out more about heart disease and its risk factors in the Healia Health Guide to Heart Disease.

^{Photo: Brian Boulos, Flickr, Creative Commons}