Word: sleeps
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Eguchi's study examined the connection between sleep and heart disease among elderly people. Over a 50-month period, researchers monitored 1,225 people with an average age of 70 and a history of hypertension. For the duration of the study, participants recorded their nightly sleep habits in a sleep diary; their blood pressure was monitored all day and night, using an ambulatory blood pressure monitor, a small halter-like device that takes readings every 30 minutes 24 hours a day. Cardiovascular events including stroke, heart attack and sudden cardiac death were tracked among the participants...
...Sleep is important [for everyone], from children to the elderly," Eguchi says. "But it is more important when someone has some cardiovascular risk factors like hypertension...
...slept less than seven and a half hours a night yet experienced no overnight hypertension showed no increased cardiac risk; their rate of heart disease was the same as that of the long sleepers. Particularly when it comes to elderly patients, the authors write that "physicians should inquire about sleep duration in the risk assessment of patients with hypertension...
Normally, blood pressure drops during sleep, but if people don't get enough shut-eye, it can exacerbate hypertension - or even cause it - and lead to depression and weakened immunity, according to previous research. Longer sleep is, therefore, especially vital for patients who already have high blood pressure. Maintaining a consistent sleep pattern is also important - tampering with the body's circadian rhythm is associated with a variety of hormonal, metabolic and cardiovascular problems. In late October, Swedish researchers reported that the rate of heart attacks jumped following daylight savings time shifts in the spring and fall. "Our data suggest...
Research generally suggests that seven to eight hours sleep a night is optimal for adults. Eguchi says his study underscores the special need for elderly, hyptertensive patients to get a good night's sleep. "It's a very important issue in their health," Eguchi says, adding that still more studies need to be done to differentiate between "good" and "bad" sleep. The participants in his study recorded the duration of sleep, but not the quality - for instance, whether they experienced disturbances or nocturnia, the medical term for the need to get up and urinate at night, a common condition among...