Recent research shows that insomnia could increase the chances of developing high blood pressure as well as causing tiredness, fatigue, depression and anxiety that we would expect.
Research from the Henry Ford Center for Sleep Disorders found that there was a strong link between being able to fall asleep (primary insomnia) and/or waking up in the middle the night (middle insomnia), and severity of high blood pressure.
Study researcher Christopher Drake, at the Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Disorders and Research Center, said “The cause of hypertension in insomniacs is due to the number of times the individual wakes during the night as well as their sleep latency –- the length of time it takes to accomplish the transition from full wakefulness to sleep,”.
The study included 5,314 people with insomnia, whose sleep habits were compared with people who don’t have insomnia via an online questionnaire. The research is set to be presented at the Sleep 2012 conference next week. Because it is not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal, the findings should be regarded as preliminary.
According to BUPA, “Up to one in three people in the UK are thought to have insomnia at some point in their lives. More women get insomnia than men. As you get older, you’re more likely to have difficulty sleeping – half of people over 65 have insomnia at some time.”
At the Surrey Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy we have been treating insomnia effectively for a decade using hypnotherapy and cognitive techniques. This recent research validates what we have always thought, that it also effects high blood pressure.
Over the years we have dealt with many clients with high blood pressure using the Hypnotension Programme and we have noticed that with the clients that also suffered insomnia, when we dealt with the insomnia their blood pressure levels responded favourably.