Too Little Sleep Jacks Blood Pressure

Regularly getting less than seven or eight hours’ sleep raises the risk of high blood pressure, research suggests. In a study tracking the blood pressure and sleep of 578 adults, every lost hour of sleep was tied to an average 37% higher risk of high blood pressure over 5 years, while missing two hours boosted the risk 86%, Bloomberg reports.

The results “confirm what we’ve seen in the lab that there are health consequences to not getting enough sleep or not sleeping well,” said the study’s head author. “People don’t respect sleep relative to diet and exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle.”