Understanding how poor sleep could elevate your blood pressure

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Why it’s never been more important to get a good night’s sleep

Melbournians are being urged to keep up their regular exercise to ensure they maintain a good night’s sleep during the pandemic, and help protect themselves against conditions like high blood pressure.

Sleep researcher at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Dr Stephanie Yiallourou says many people may be experiencing sleep problems at the present time, with rising anxiety levels and changes in daily work habits.

She says there are some studies coming out on the impact of COVID on sleep, which highlight an increase in insomnia symptoms, later bedtimes and an increase in time to fall asleep during lockdown periods which can be related to anxiety and depressive symptoms. In relation to chronic disease, poor sleep is consistently related to increased risk of obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Dr Yiallourou says data obtained through Baker Institute-led trials also reveals that poor sleep is related to higher heart disease risk including higher blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol levels. She says data also indicates that poor sleep may negatively impact behavioural and lifestyle intervention programs to improve heart disease risk.

“It is critical for people to Keep it Moving because we know that physical activity and exercise improves sleep quality at night,” Dr Yiallourou says.

And she’s also keeping things moving on the research front.

Dr Yiallourou is currently investigating the mechanisms linking poor sleep to elevated blood pressure in individuals using state-of-the-art brain imaging and recording activity in the sympathetic nerve , in collaboration with Head of the Human Autonomic Neurophysiology laboratory, Professor Vaughan Macefield.

“This approach provides unparalleled access to brain regions involved in the beat-to-beat control of blood pressure We want to examine whether people with poor sleep have altered blood pressure regulation compared to those with normal sleep.” she says.

“We know people who have short sleep duration have a higher risk of high blood pressure and we want to better understand this.”

Dr Yiallourou hopes this pilot study, which will record sleep patterns for a week along with MRI images and nerve recordings, will help to reveal how the brain controls blood pressure in order to improve the health of thousands of Australians.

She says this work, partly funded by an Alice Baker and Eleanor Shaw Gender Equity Fellowship, is even more critical during the pandemic when exercise routines, sleep patterns and diets can be disrupted.

For more information on good health and sleep, download the Sleep Health Foundation fact sheet or visit our Keep it Moving hub.