Weekend sleep linked to lower BP risk

If you cannot get enough sleep during the week and want to protect yourself from high blood pressure getting an extra one to two hours of sleep on your weekly day off may help.

A new study from Seoul National University in South Korea suggests that extra sleep during the weekend could benefit heart health especially for people who regularly sleep less during the week.

Researchers analyzed health data from more than 40,000 people collected between 2016 and 2023.  They looked at whether getting extra sleep on days off could affect the risk of high blood pressure.

The study found that people who did not get enough sleep during the week had a lower risk of high blood pressure when they regularly slept an additional one to two hours on their days off.

The risk was reduced by about 6%. Among people who did little or no exercise the reduction was around 6.9%. Sleeping about 1 hour and 37 minutes extra was linked to a risk reduction of up to 9%.

However researchers noted that sleeping much longer than this did not provide the same health benefits.

Experts say lack of sleep can increase stress in the body forcing the heart and blood vessels to work harder and potentially raising blood pressure.

According to the World Health Organization around 1.4 billion adults aged 37 to 79 worldwide have high blood pressure. The condition can increase the risk of serious health problems including heart attacks and strokes.

Researchers said that while maintaining a regular sleep schedule is important getting some extra sleep on days off may be helpful for people who cannot sleep enough during a busy workweek.