摘要
Blood pressure and sleep,the two important indicators of health outcomes,are of increasing public health importance.There are variations in the blood pressure parameters during sleep and association exists between sleep and elevated blood pressure.The absence of nocturnal dipping of the blood pressure also increases cardiovascular risk.Sleep duration has been defined as normal(7-8 hours of sleep),short≤6 hours and long sleep≥9 hours.Short sleep duration is associated with hypertension especially during middle age and women who are deprived of sleep particularly post-menopausal had a higher risk of hypertension than men.Methodological concerns exist in the measurement of sleep duration,although both subjective and objective assessment of sleep duration showed an association with hypertension.Shorter sleep duration is believed to result in prolonged exposures to elevated sympathetic activity and psychosocial stressors.There is no enough evidence to support this statement for longer sleep duration.Long and short sleep duration are associated with the incidence of hypertension across most age groups.Relationships of short sleep are stronger among women and young adults compared to long sleep duration which is stronger among the elderly.
