Insomnia raises risk of high blood pressure

"Insomniacs who sleep less than five hours a night are five times more likely to develop high blood pressure than sound sleepers who get enough rest, a new study shows. The link between another sleep disorder, sleep apnea, and hypertension is well established. But the newly published study is one of the first to find that insomnia also raises the risk for high blood pressure. Researchers estimate that 8% to 10% of the U.S. population may be at risk for high blood pressure related to chronic insomnia. "We have known for many years that insomniacs have a high risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders," study researcher Alexandros N. Vgontzas, MD, tells WebMD. "Now we are increasingly recognizing the association with medical morbidities like high blood pressure." Vgontzas, who directs the Sleep Research and Treatment Center at the Penn State College of Medicine, says the major strength of the new study is that it included both subjective and objective measures of insomnia" - webMD