Your sleep-related habits are not something to be taken lightly. Sleep is widely regarded as a pillar of good health, as it helps repair and restore both the mind and body. Time and again, its importance is highlighted in medical research and health discussions.
However, healthy sleep is not one-dimensional. It encompasses your bedtime routine, what you eat or drink before going to bed, the duration and the quality of your rest, and even behaviours such as snoring or waking frequently during the night. One possible ramification of consistently poor sleep is a heightened risk of high blood pressure.
We asked Dr Gaurav Minocha, senior director and head of interventional cardiology at Max Super Speciality Hospital, Vaishali, about why sleep is important for you, and how it may impact blood pressure. He also recommended six healthy sleep habits that may help reduce the risk of hypertension.
Can poor sleep increase hypertension risk?
The cardiologist confirmed,“If we don’t get enough sleep or sleep quality is not good, we can develop high blood pressure. Moreover, what happens if you silently suffer from high blood pressure? He added, “Over time, high BP can gradually impact hormones, heart rate, and the function of blood vessels.”
What are the first signs you may not be getting enough sleep?
Poor sleep is not only about the obvious early morning grogginess. Dr Minocha believed that there are some signs which may indicate you are not getting sufficient sleep. He mentioned, “The first signs of sleep deficiency include redness or heaviness in the eyes, headache or just restlessness.”
Healthy sleep habits
The cardiologist listed five healthy sleep habits in a brief guide that may improve sleep quality and support better blood pressure management:
1. Maintain a consistent sleep routine
- Try to go to bed and wake up at approximately the same time every day.
- An irregular schedule can disturb your body’s internal clock.
- Hormonal imbalances and a heightened stress response may also occur, possibly associated with increased blood pressure.
- Keeping a regular sleep schedule helps keep your heart and blood pressure more steady.
2. Ensure good quality sleep, not just quantity
- Long sleeping time doesn’t always mean that you are resting well if the quality of sleep is not good.
- Frequent waking, light sleep, or difficulty staying asleep can keep the nervous system in a state of constant readiness, and this puts additional stress on the heart and blood vessels.
3. Keep screen time to a minimum before sleep
- Too much use of phones or computers late at night can interfere with the body’s natural production of melatonin, which is needed to fall asleep.
- Blue light exposure may also interfere with sleep and make it more difficult to control blood pressure.
4. Avoid eating large meals, drinking alcohol, and consuming too much caffeine close to bedtime.
- Eating late at night and using stimulants can mess up your digestion and make it harder to sleep well.
- Alcohol might make you feel sleepy at first, but it can interfere with the deeper parts of your sleep as the night goes on.
- Poor sleep continuity is connected to an increased risk of developing high blood pressure.
5. Check your sleep behaviour
- How you behave during sleep is also an important clue.
- Loud snoring, feeling like you are choking in your sleep, or feeling very tired during the day can be signs that you have obstructive sleep apnoea, which is closely related to high blood pressure that is not under control.
- Repeated use of oxygen drops while sleeping can put a lot of stress on the heart and blood vessels.
- Proper lighting and sometimes music can help your sleep.
In a nutshell, you have to sleep well to protect your heart and cardiovascular system. When you follow consistent sleep timings, limit screens and stimulants before bed, and pay attention to frequent waking or loud snoring. And most importantly, hypertension develops without any obvious signs, which is why, even when you are not sleeping well, you may not see any obvious signs that you have developed hypertension. This makes regular blood pressure checks essential. See a doctor if you have a hectic schedule and sleep poorly.
About the expert
Dr Gaurav Minocha has over 23 years of experience. His areas of special interest are coronary and peripheral interventions (including stenting), preventive cardiology, and heart failure management.
