Regular sleep also helps fight hypertension – breaking latest news

Sleeping well is not only a question of the number of hours but also (and above all) of quality. And the quality also depends on the regularized when you go to bed and get up during the week. A lack of consistent schedules in fact, also associated with a increased risk of hypertension
, regardless of total sleep duration. Delaying the time you go to sleep by only half an hour increases the probability of developing this clinical condition by about 30%. If, on the other hand, you move the alarm clock forward about forty minutes, the probability of having high blood pressure increases by 9%. This is indicated by a study published in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension, on a sample of over 12,000 people in their fifties, mostly males (88%) and overweight.

The importance of deep sleep

Over about nine months, their blood pressure was measured with a device placed under the mattress that monitored the duration of sleep but also the times. It may not be evidence that can be found in other population targets, such as young people, women, the elderly, but it is certainly a valid and interesting figure because it results from an objective instrumental survey – he comments Luigi Ferini Strambi, professor of Neurology and head of the sleep medicine center of the San Raffaele university hospital in Milan —. When we sleep, the heart rate decreases. Especially in the first 2-3 hours after falling asleep you enter the Deep sleep
the phase in which the body is most capable of inhibiting the release of cortisol, the stress hormone, lowering heart rate and blood pressure. If you postpone the time you usually go to bed, the third non-rem stage, that of deep sleep, is reduced, and blood pressure tends to remain higher, favoring the risk of hypertension.

The structure of night rest

For a good rest, therefore, a normal structure of our sleep (which can be verified through polysomnography), which is divided into different stages: light sleep (stage 1 and 2 non-REM), deep sleep (stage 3 non-REM) and REM sleep ( associated with the dream). They do not get adequate deep sleep and are exposed to hypertension, which in turn is a risk factor for stroke and heart attack, even those who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia reminds the expert. What everyone thinks that for a restful sleep it is necessary to sleep the right number of hours. Contrary to what has always been said, there is no optimal amount of sleep that is the same for everyone. The ideal sleep duration to wake up refreshed depends on the internal biological clock of each of us. A genetically engineered mechanism that lies deep within the brain, at the level of thehypothalamus, which marks the time when I get up and go to sleep and never varies – clarifies Ferini Strambi -. For most adults, sleeping well is equivalent to 7-8 hours of sleep a night, but there are also “short” dorms, which can be regenerated even with just 4-5 hours.

How to prepare for sleep

What to do, then, to not ruin your sleep? In addition to respecting the regularity of the hours, which must be maintained as much as possible even on weekends, in the evening you should avoid eating foods with a high protein content, salty and spicy because they accelerate the heart rate making it more difficult to fall asleep. Half an hour before going to bed, it is important to get ready by turning off or dimming the lights, not starting discussions, not thinking about all the things to do the next day and interrupting the use of PCs, tablets and mobile phones, recommends Ferini Strambi.