The Real Cause of Hypertension?

[bifrost99]

Lack of sleep?

I would think it is. Maybe we should check if there are any hypertensives who regularly get more than 6 hours of "dark" sleep per day? If all hypertensives fail to get their share of sleep, it's highly suspect. And it may be the real, consistent cause of hypertension.

Several articles,
from WebMD
from American Heart Association
from Yahoo! Health

point to one source in the journal, Hypertension, May 2006:
Editorial
Original article

The above articles can be downloaded as PDF:
Editorial
Original article

I was diagnosed hypertensive in the early '90s. It was a time when I slept late and woke up early. I have no BP monitor right now, but I've been sleeping really early (I simply did not allow myself to "recover" from the jet lag of my last US trip), and waking up early. But I've also improved a lot with Tabata interval training.

Well, maybe other factors (carbs, lack of exercise) come into play. But I know of obese, non-exercising persons who are not hypertensive, and really thin persons who are. Could it be the sleep factor?

Really suspect.

(Now drug companies might jump into this by pushing sleeping pills more. I doubt this would be the solution, though. Just get more good night's sleeps.)

Gerry

 

[JonB]

Gerry, from my experience, hypertension has a number of aspects, stress is a biggy, but the main one I find is the kidneys, and more particularly the kidney tubules. The tubules get glogged and the resultent build up of fluid puts pressure on the heart. I usually do an herbal kidney cleanse and that makes major differences in BP.

 

[scorpiotiger]

some menopausal, and post-menopausal women I know started having sleep problems during menopause - which stopped when they started taking an estrogen creme.

so, I think hormones have something to do with sleep, too.

but.. how do you solve sleep problems caused by teenagers (another major cause of high blood pressure )?

 

[bifrost99]

Well, I guess the point is that we have people with hormonal imbalance and kidney problems that are not hypertensive, and we have people with no hormonal problems and no kidney problems that are.

So I sure would be interested to know if any hypertensive gets enough sleep. And not just hours, but darkness as well -- sleeping at night time.

The article from the journal presents an interesting mechanism (I just read the abstract, still to read its entirety). Our BP lowers at sleep and rises when awake. By being awake most of the time, our body becomes "entrained" to have and maintain higher BP.

Gerry

 

[JonB]

By being awake most of the time, our body becomes "entrained" to have and maintain higher BP. Makes a lot of sense Jerry

If you suffer insomnia,
if your mind is racing, treat the heart.
If your mind is calm, treat the liver.

 

[Arrowwind09]

If your mind is racing the homeopathic coffea in 30c or 200c will do the trick. It is sometimes a problem that I have and 1 or 2 doses of coffea 30c and I'm out like a light.

Heel Homoepathics makes a fantastic combination remedy for insomnia called Neurexan. You would probably have to get your health food store to order it. Since most health food stores carry some Heel product they will be able to do that.

I had major insomnia about 10 years ago. A comprehensive evaluation with a homeopath lead me to the remedy that got rid of it. Now I only have a problem rarely, when my mind is busy.