If blood pressure is a problem for you, how about climbing into your storage bed a little earlier than usual?
People displaying the early signs of high blood pressure can get their levels back down to normal in six weeks by getting an extra hour’s sleep, a recent study has shown.
Researchers at the Harvard Medical School studied people who usually slept for a maximum of seven hours each night. These people also had signs of high blood pressure.
The group under study consisted of 22 middle aged men and women, who were studied for a period of six weeks.
By splitting the group so that 13 went to bed an hour earlier than they would normally, and getting all participants to wear blood pressure monitors 24 hours a day, the researchers noted that the blood pressure of those who had extra time in their beds dropped by between eight and 14mmHg.
While this is a promising find, future study is needed according to the researchers involved. "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," they said in a report.
