Insomnia May Cause Hypertension & May Raise Risk of Stroke

Insomnia is a difficult disorder sleep at night. If you need to return the next day to get up early, you will not get enough sleep. Various studies have shown, the effect of insomnia is not just the body feel tired and hard to concentrate the next day. Research in China says, people with insomnia will be more at risk of having high blood pressure. If high blood pressure is not controlled will gradually increase heart attack and stroke.

Research conducted at the West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, studied 219 people with insomnia in the long term is difficult to sleep for about 6 months. The second group of 96 people who did not experience sleep disturbances with an average age of 40 years. As many as 60 percent of the study participants were women.

Researchers monitored their sleep using the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MLST). According to the study, those who experience long-term insomnia and takes 14 minutes to fall asleep at higher risk of high blood pressure or hypertension. If they take more than 17 minutes to fall asleep, the risk of high blood pressure was further increased. Multiple Latency showed a higher risk of hypertension in those with long-term insomnia.

Insomnia also have to be addressed to improve the quality of sleep. According to the researchers, this long-term insomnia can be hiperarousal state or sleep disorders for 24 hours.

Stroke risk may arise from Insomnia

People who experience insomnia will definitely feel tired and hard to concentrate the next day. But it turns out the impact of insomnia may be worse than that. As revealed in a new study, insomnia increases the risk of stroke, especially in young adults.

In the four year period of the study, the researchers found insomnia increases a person's tendency to be hospitalized because of stroke. They noted, the increase in the risk of reaching 54 percent. The risk of stroke in people aged 18-34 years insomnia eight times higher than their counterparts who get a good sleep.

Dementricus Lopes, director of the Interventional Cerebrovascular Center at Rush University in Chicago and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association says, the attention of researchers initially on high blood pressure, obesity, and cholesterol which is a risk factor of stroke. The study, published in the journal Stroke randomly comparing the medical history of more than 21,000 people with insomnia and 64,000 people without insomnia in Taiwan. All participants no stroke or been diagnosed with sleep apnea before.

Having followed for four years, 583 people with insomnia and 962 people without insomnia recorded hospitalized because of stroke. The researchers' analysis shows, after the input of other risk factors, people with insomnia are at increased risk of stroke compared to those with good sleep quality.

Researcher on the study, Ya-Wen Hsu Chia Nan University, said the level of insomnia also affect a person's increased risk of stroke. That is, the more often a person experiencing insomnia, the higher it faces an increased risk of stroke. He said the two categories that have a greater risk of stroke than people who had been treated insomnia.

People with insomnia are also likely to have other stroke risk factors, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. However, the study did not show a causal relationship between insomnia and stroke. For further information, you can read insomnia symptoms.

Get Rid Of Insomnia With Several Simple Tips

Before you use drugs to get rid of insomnia, maybe you could do some treatment tips you can do at home. Having trouble sleeping or insomnia, not only have a fatigue  impact for the sufferer. In fact, recent studies show that insomnia also increases the risk of heart disease. The study, published in the journal Circulation showed that people with insomnia have a risk of having a heart attack 27 to 40 percent higher than people who sleep normally. So, it is very recommended for you to recognized insomnia symptoms early, so you can do next steps to prevent severe insomnia.

Suzanne Steinbaum, a cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital who participated in the study said they do not know exactly how large the effect of the sleep disorders, insomnia is also how long conditions that can lead to heart disease, they can be sure is that there is a connection. Indeed there are many that can be the cause. The reason could be due to the effects of treatment, cramps, sleep apnea, stress, depression, up to anxiety. Until now there are different types of options for treating insomnia. Most doctors recommend the use of sleeping pills or anti-anxiety medication to cure insomnia patients. But that you should note is, it is not good in long term use. That is why, maybe you should try simple insomnia treatment tips below.

1. Avoid light during sleep: Light greatly affects the production process of the hormone melatonin. The bright light will inhibit the production process, and the absence of light will encourage the production process. Tips: Turn off the TV, computer, or other light source equipment one hour before bedtime. Cover with a dark cloth all equipment light sources can not be turned off.


2. Avoid to continue to look towards your watch: When you constantly glanced at the clock late at night, your sleep will suffer. You will continue to feel worried about the rest of your busy day to sleep before another begins. If you are one of these people, then you have to put the hours in a drawer, under the bed, or turn in the direction contrary to the visibility you.


3. Avoid caffeine 9 hours before bed: coffee in the morning good for a few people. However, just before bedtime, you need to avoid foods and beverages that contain caffeine. Reduce also in eating chocolate, cola, tea or coffee without caffeine though. Tips: Pain killers and weight loss pills also contain caffeine, so you should avoid it too.


4. Set a sleep schedule: Arrange for a schedule to sleep and you wake up the same on every day, including weekends. This routine will keep your body and brain remain on sleep-wake cycle and go healthy. In time, you will be able to fall asleep soundly throughout the night. Tips: Get a bright light for 5 to 30 minutes as soon as possible after you wake up. Light is the strongest regulators to wake you from sleep.


5. Regular exercise: Regular exercise has been shown to improve sleep quality, as long as you do not get too close to bedtime. The energy you get after exercise can keep you awake. Leave a gap between the time you are finished exercising with sleep between 3 to 4 hours. Tip: exercise or light exercise such as yoga, tai chi, and similar exercises should be done before bed.


6. Neutralize noise: Drops of taps, the dog barking, the sound of the vehicle will eliminate most of your sleep time. Tips: Resist the sound, with sound is more regular and quieter, like the sound of the fan, air conditioning, or other soothing voice. You can also use ear plugs. 


7. Do not smoke: Nicotine is also a stimulant, similar to caffeine. Nicotine will make you more awake and can aggravate insomnia.


8. Keep your pets out of bed: The movement of your pet will prevent you from getting a good night's sleep as desired. They can also bring fleas, dust, dander, and other allergens into your bed.


9. Relax your mind before sleep: relieve emotional and also your mind about an hour before bedtime. Read something light, listening to music, or a warm bath to soothe your mind. 


10. Use a pillow to relieve back pain: mild back pain probably will not wake to sleep, but would greatly annoy your deep sleep. The easy solution is to put a small pillow between your legs when sleeping sideways, the point is to align the hips and reduce pain in the back.


11. Place the neck in a neutral position: If you wake up with stiff neck, blame your pillow. Sometimes you use a pillow that is too thick or too thin. You must be appropriately sized pillow to support your neck in a neutral position. For the sleeping sideways, your nose should be aligned with the center of your body. Avoid sleeping with tummy, because it will wrap your neck. 


12. Clean the bed on a regular basis: Allergies can cause sneezing, runny nose, itchy or can cause your sleep disturbed, and it is probably because your bed which over time will be filled with dust, mites and all sorts of other allergens. Wash your bed in a certain period of time on a regular basis.

When the severity of your insomnia is still relatively low, then you can still cope with these tips. But if your insomnia for a month still does not go away, it's time to check yourself and find out what happens to your body. Insomnia can be simply a symptom to a more serious disease. Insomnia is a chronic need for evaluation of a local doctor.

You might be tempted to use sleeping pills when your sleepiness has not arrived in the middle of the night, but be careful in using it. Sleeping pills can make you addicted and have bothersome side effects. Ideally, the drug was used in a short period of time, not to be a daily lifestyle.

Insomnia Symptoms And 9 Impacts For Health

Insomnia is not a disease, but a symptom that has many possible causes, such as emotional disorders, physical disorders and drug use. Difficulty sleeping often occurs, both at a young age and old age, and often occur together with emotional disorders, such as anxiety, restlessness, depression or fear. Sometimes a person have trouble sleeping simply because the body and brain are not tired.

With increasing age, sleep tends to decrease. Stadium was also changed, with stage 4 becomes shorter and eventually disappear, and at all stages more awake. These changes, although normal, often make parents think that they are not getting enough sleep. The pattern of waking at dawn more often found in the elderly. Some people fall asleep normally but wake up several hours later and it was hard to fall asleep again. Sometimes they sleep in a state of anxious and feeling unsatisfied sleep. Awakened at dawn, at any age, is a sign of depression. The person may experience disturbed sleep patterns are reversed sleep rhythm, they are not asleep at the time to sleep and wake up in time to sleep.

Insomnia Symptoms

Patients have difficulty sleeping or waking frequently at night and feel tired all day. Beginning the process of sleep in patients with insomnia, referring to the prolonged latency from time to sleep until time asleep. In the psycho-physiological insomnia, patients may complain of feeling anxious, tense, worried, or considering continuous problems in the past or in the future as they lay in bed too long without sleep.

In acute insomnia, it is possible there is a triggering event, such as death or disease affecting a loved one. This can be attributed to the onset of insomnia. This pattern may be fixed from time to time, and the patient may experience insomnia, repeated constantly. The greater the effort expended in trying to sleep, sleep becomes more difficult to obtain. Watching the clock when every minute and hour passed only increase a sense of urgency and effort to fall asleep. The bed can eventually be viewed as a battlefield, and sleep more easily achieved in an unfamiliar environment.

Below are the symptoms of insomnia:

• It is difficult to start a long sleep and could not close his eyes.
• Asleep easily but wake up too early and can not fall back asleep.
• Often awakened in the middle of the night so often sleepy during the day.

The most common causes of insomnia: 

1. Stress at home or work
2. Changes in lifestyle, moving house for example.
3. Noisy environment so uncomfortable to sleep
4. Disease that causes pain, shortness of breath or frequent urination
5. Age
6. Anxiety and depression
7. Tense

9 impacts of insomnia

1. Increases the risk of death: In the Whitehall study 2nd, British researchers discovered how sleep patterns affect the mortality rate of more than 10,000 British civil servants over two decades. Based on the results of a study published in 2007, those who sleep less than 5-7 hours a day increased the risk of death due to various factors. Even lack of sleep increased twice as much risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.


2. Increased weight or obesity: Lack of sleep is associated with increased hunger and appetite, and likely to become obese. The relationship between sleep and peptides that regulate appetite. Ghrelin stimulates hunger and leptin signals satiety to the brain and stimulating appetite. Short sleep time is associated with a decrease in leptin and increase in ghrelin.   Lack of sleep not only stimulates the appetite. It also stimulates the desire to eat fatty foods and foods high in carbohydrates. Ongoing research conducted to examine whether adequate sleep should be a standard part of a weight loss program.


3. Forgetful: In 2009, researchers from the U.S. and France found that brain events called sharp wave ripples, responsible strengthen memory in the brain. This event also transfer information from the hippocampus to the neocortex in the brain, where long-term memories are stored. Sharp wave ripples occur mostly during sleep.


4. Affect skin health: Most people have pale skin and puffy eyes after a night of sleep deprivation. The situation is really due to a chronic lack of sleep can lead to dull skin, fine lines on the face, and dark circles under the eyes. When you do not get enough sleep, your body will release more stress hormones or cortisol. In excessive amounts, cortisol can break down skin collagen or proteins that keep skin smooth and elastic. Lack of sleep can also cause the body to secrete less growth hormone. When we were young, human growth hormone to encourage growth. In this case, the hormone helps increase muscle mass, skin thickening, and strengthen bones.


5. Can cause depression: In a 1997 study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania reported that people who sleep less than 5 hours per day for seven days led to stress, anger, sadness, and mental fatigue. In addition, lack of sleep and sleep disorders to be one of the causes of the symptoms of depression. Insomnia and no appetite due to depression are related. Sleep deprivation exacerbates depressive symptoms and depression makes it harder to sleep. The plus side, good sleep patterns can help treat depression.


6. Decreased concentration: good sleep patterns, plays an important role in thinking and learning. Lack of sleep can affect many things, First: Disruptive alertness, concentration, reasoning, and problem solving. This makes learning difficult and inefficient. Second: Cycle to sleep at night plays a role in "strengthening" the memory in mind. If not enough sleep, then you will not be able to remember what you learned and experienced during the day.


7. Serious health problems: Sleep disorders and chronic sleep deprivation can lead to the risk of: heart disease, heart attack, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, stroke, and diabetes. According to some studies, 90 percent of people with insomnia (sleep disorder characterized by difficulty falling asleep and staying awake all night) also experienced similar health risks.


8. Accident: Lack of sleep is one of the biggest disasters factor, it must be recognized lack of sleep also have an impact on safety while driving on the road. Because fatigue is the cause of a car accident, which is the equivalent of driving while drunk. Lack of sleep or have poor quality sleep can also lead to accidents and injuries at work. In one study, workers who complain of excessive sleepiness during the day vulnerable injured at work and are constantly subjected to the same accident at work.


9. Decreased libido: The experts reported that sleep deprivation in men and women, libido and reduce the urge to have sex. This is due to depleted energy, drowsiness, and rising tension. For men who suffer from sleep apnea (breathing problems during sleep) sleep deprivation causes sexual arousal sluggish. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 2002 showed, almost all people who suffer from sleep apnea have low testosterone levels. Nearly half of people who suffer from severe sleep apnea have lower testosterone levels at night.