HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE: Worrying signs and symptoms during sleep you must not ignore

High blood pressure is a silent killer and over time damages arteries increasing your risk of heart attack or stroke. There are many signs and symptoms of hypertension you may get during your sleep or at nighttime leading to nocturnal hypertension, which you must take seriously. Read on to know what they are and seek medical help immediately.

Noctural high blood pressure

Those who have high blood pressure while sleeping are more likely to experience heart failure and other forms of cardiovascular disease

For most people, they are at mental and physical ease while sleeping. However, you may experience a spike in your blood pressure levels even when snoozing.

According to experts, those who have high blood pressure while sleeping are more likely to experience heart failure and other forms of cardiovascular disease. 1

And since high blood pressure is a silent killer, it does damage arteries over time and if not controlled, can also affect your kidney function, and cause vision and memory loss, apart from heart attacks and strokes.

Signs of high blood pressure while sleeping

Doctors say a few patterns when you sleep are solid signs of high blood pressure at night that can warn you about the silent threat. A few of them are:

Snoring

According to studies, snoring regularly at night is strongly associated with high blood pressure and uncontrolled hypertension.

Doctors say it usually happens among middle-aged and overweight men who make up the majority of the studied population. 2

Also known as nocturnal hypertension, it can occur even among people whose daytime blood pressure is normal. This dangerous condition is difficult to catch, as routine blood pressure checks are almost always done during daytime hours.

Insomnia

Several studies say those suffering from hypertension usually complain of insomnia.

Doctors say high blood pressure happens when the force of blood pumping through your veins becomes very high. This puts stress on your blood vessels and causes symptoms like headaches, chest pain, and difficulty breathing. All these symptoms can make sleep difficult.

Also, those who sleep less than seven hours are likely to have more health problems including obesity, asthma, and depression – all of which can increase your risk for heart disease.

Excessive urination

Those suffering from high blood pressure suffer from nocturia, or excessive urination during the night. Research has shown that excessive daily salt intake and hypertension hurt nocturia.

Data also says getting up in the night to urinate is associated with a 40 per cent greater chance of having high blood pressure, and the risk of hypertension rose significantly as the number of nocturia events per night increased.

Frequent headaches

Also, experiencing recurrent headaches after waking up or during the night can be a sign of nocturnal hypertension.

According to doctors, headaches caused by high blood pressure are most intense in the morning, as blood pressure naturally rises during sleep and peaks in the early morning hours. 5

Also, in very severe cases, when blood pressure is extremely high, hypertension results in excess pressure to the brain, causing blood to leak from the blood vessels in this organ – leading to edema or swelling.

Why does blood pressure spike at night?

According to experts, blood pressure rises naturally to excrete excess sodium from the kidneys, particularly among people with high sensitivity to salt intake.

So, hypertensive people need to take extra care of their sleeping habits including drinking caffeine or alcohol later in the day, napping during the day, non-consistent bedtime, poorly controlled sugar, prostate hypertrophy, exercising too late in the evening, blue light from a digital device, dreams, or emotional confrontations.

Also, reducing salt intake, administrating diuretics, and taking mineral corticoid receptor blockers help reduce the risk of nocturnal hypertension.