New findings show snoring as a risk factor in the health care and treatment of sleep disorders,
especially in relation to blood pressure control. People who sleep regularly at night often have high blood pressure and uncontrolled high blood pressure, according to a study by sleep scientists at Flinders University in South Australia.
High blood pressure occurs when the pressure in a person’s blood vessels is too high. Left untreated, it can lead to heart attack, stroke, heart failure and heart disease.
Blood pressure is expressed in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) as two numbers, for example 120/80. The first number, systolic blood pressure, measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart pumps blood; the second, diastolic blood pressure, measures the pressure when the heart slows down before beating again.
The study found that 1,843 (15%) of the 12,287 participants snored more than 20% of the night in the following six months. People who sleep a lot have 3.8 mmHg higher systolic blood pressure and 4.5 mmHg higher diastolic blood pressure than people who don’t sleep.
This study is the first to use multiple home monitoring technologies over a long period of time to investigate the link between snoring and high blood pressure. Participants were elderly, 88% of whom were male.
For the first time, we can say for sure that there is a significant connection between snoring snoring snoring snoring snoring breach and high blood pressure, said author Bastien Lechat. These findings show the importance of considering snoring as a risk factor in the health care and treatment of sleep disorders, especially in relation to blood pressure control.
The World Health Organization estimates that 1.28 billion adults aged 30 to 79 worldwide have high blood pressure, but almost half of them (46%) do not know they have it him.
