Trouble sleeping may indicate high blood pressure. Sleep troubles have been linked to a variety of diseases and now high blood pressure has been added to the list. “The authors studied about 300 adults, including more than 200 chronic insomniacs who’d had trouble sleeping for at least six months. They all spent one night in the hospital and took a sleepiness/alertness test the following day. The next day, they were given four 20-minute nap opportunities throughout the day.” The researchers looked to see how long it took each person to fall asleep during their naps and also took blood pressure readings. “For chronic insomniacs, the longer it took to fall asleep when they tried to nap during the day, the more likely they were to have high blood pressure. Compared to normal sleepers who fell asleep quickly, insomniacs who took more than 14 minutes to fall asleep during the day were three times as likely to have high blood pressure readings or a doctor’s diagnosis of hypertension.” If you have chronic insomnia, you should consider having your blood pressure measured at your next appointment

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