Reader's Corner

As if insomniacs don’t have enough to fret about each night, new findings on how a sleep shortage can drive up blood pressure are likely to have them tossing and turning anew.

Roberto Fogari, an internist at the University of Pavia, recruited 36 patients with untreated hypertension for two overnight experiments a week apart. During the first night all were allowed to sleep a full eight hours; the following day, their blood pressure was found to be, as usual, moderately high. But after they were permitted just four hours of shut-eye during the next session, each experienced a big jump in blood pressure that lasted through early afternoon.

Heart attacks and strokes occur most often in the morning, and Fogari thinks troubled nights may be partly to blame. “Sleep deprivation puts the body in a very stressful state,” he says.

Even if you’re one of the millions with high blood pressure, one or two wakeful nights a week probably won’t hurt you as long as you usually manage seven or eight hours of sleep at a stretch, Fogari says. But if you’re a poor sleeper with hypertension, ask your doctor about switching to one of the long-acting medications, which can blunt a morning spike.