Sleeping position can influence blood pressure

Main Category: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Also Included In: Flu / Cold / SARS
Article Date: 11 Oct 2004 - 0:00 PDT

For the first time, researchers evaluated whether changing sleeping positions alters blood pressure.

The risk of cardiovascular disease increases in people who experience high blood pressure or extreme dips in blood pressure during the night and in people whose blood pressure falls when they stand up suddenly (orthostatic hypotension).

Using an automatic cuff, researchers monitored blood pressure in 271 men (average age 50) without cardiovascular disease and who were not taking medicine to control high blood pressure. They first took measurements while the men were lying on their backs (supine), then after they had rolled onto their stomachs (prone).

Average systolic blood pressure fell significantly from 130 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) to 125 mmHg in response to lying on their stomachs.

Twenty-five of the men (9.2 percent) experienced a more dramatic drop (more than a 15 mmHg) in systolic blood pressure.

The researchers call for further investigation of whether marked blood pressure changes in response to sleep position might be a possible cause of cardiovascular events during sleep.

From the American Heart Association's 58th Annual High Blood Pressure Conference
Contact: Maggie Francis
maggie.francis@heart.org
214-706-1397
American Heart Association

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