Regular naps increase the risk of high blood pressure and stroke, according to new research published in Hypertension, a journal of the American Heart Association.
Researchers in China investigate whether frequent naps are a Possible causal risk factors for arterial hypertension and/or stroke, This is the first study to use both long-term observational analysis of participants and Mendelian randomization, a validation of genetic risk, to investigate whether frequent naps are associated with hypertension and ischemic stroke.
“These results are particularly interesting, because millions of people can enjoy a regular, or even daily, nap,” said Dr. E Wang, professor and head of the Department of Anesthesiology, Jiangya Hospital. South Central Universityand the corresponding author of the study.
The researchers used information from the UK Biobank, a large biomedical database and research resource that includes anonymous health, lifestyle and genetic information from half a million UK participants. The UK Biobank recruited over 500,000 participants aged 40–69 living in the UK between 2006 and 2010. They provided regular blood, urine and saliva samples, as well as detailed lifestyle information. Survey frequency of daytime naps This was performed 4 times between 2006 and 2019 on a small proportion of UK Biobank participants.
Wang’s group excluded records of people who had already had a stroke or had high blood pressure before the study began. This left about 360,000 participants to analyze the association between naps and first-time reports of stroke or high blood pressure, with a median follow-up of about 11 years. Participants were divided into groups based on self-reported nap frequency: “never/rarely,” “sometimes,” or “usually.”
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The study found that a higher percentage of habitual sleepers were male, had lower education levels and income, and smoked, daily drinking, insomnia, snoring, and nocturnal persons, compared to those who slept infrequently or infrequently. reported to be. Compared to those who reported never taking a nap, those who had previously were 12% more likely to develop high blood pressure and 24% more likely to have a stroke.
participants under the age of 60 who took naps 20% higher risk of developing high blood pressure Compared to people of the same age who never took a nap, according to the study and after age 60, habitual napping increases the risk of high blood pressure by 10%, compared to those who never took a nap. informed of. About three-quarters of the participants remained in the same napping category throughout the study.
Results from Mendelian randomization showed that the risk of arterial hypertension increased by 40% if the frequency of naps was increased by a range (from never to infrequent or to rarely). was related to the frequency of taking more naps Genetic predisposition to high blood pressure risk,
“This may be because, although naps in themselves are not harmful, many nappers may do so because they sleep poorly at night. A poor night’s sleep is associated with poor health, and naps are not enough for that.” ,” says Dr. Michael. A. Grandner, sleep expert and co-author of the new Health Score Cardiovascular Life Essentials 8 from the American Heart Associationwhich added sleep duration as the eighth metric to measure optimal heart and brain health in June 2022.
“This study echoes other findings that generally show that taking more naps is associated with a higher risk of problems with heart health and other issues,” says Grander, director Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic and Sleep Health Research Program and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Arizona (United States).
