Does short sleep duration in daily life affect morning home blood pressure? Evaluation in Japanese people

A short sleep duration is expected to elevate blood pressure the next morning, but no report has evaluated this in detail using home blood pressure measurement. In this study, the relation between sleep duration and morning and evening home blood pressure and heart rate during seven consecutive days was evaluated. From 630 volunteers not receiving antihypertensive agents, we selected 478 subjects (318 male, 160 female; mean age: 39.0 years) whose 2-7 days of data consisted of 7-8 hours sleep duration (proper sleep period phase; mean sleep duration: 7.3 ± 0.3 hours) and less than 7 hours (short sleep period phase; 5.7 ± 4.9 hours). In the morning, systolic blood pressure and heart rate in the short sleep period phase (117.7 ± 14.9 mmHg, 67.3 ± 9.6/min) were significantly (p < 0.01) higher than those in the proper sleep period phase (116.9 ± 14.9 mmHg, 66.5 ± 9.1/min). However, there was no difference in morning diastolic blood pressure. Although the difference in morning systolic blood pressure had disappeared by the time of measurement before going to bed, the difference in heart rate was maintained (proper sleep period phase: 70.4 ± 10.2/min, short sleep period phase: 71.7 ± 10.7/min, p < 0.01). In conclusion, days with sleep duration of less than 7 hours showed higher morning systolic blood pressure and heart rate compared with days with sleep duration between 7 and 8 hours, but no difference was found in diastolic blood pressure. Moreover, although the difference in morning systolic blood pressure had disappeared at night, the difference in heart rate was still maintained.