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Do Men or Women Need More Sleep?

August 10, 2010: 1 comment(s)

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Researchers examined men and women who slept less than or equal to 5 hours a night to determine if they had any higher risk for hypertension than men or women who got the recommended 7 hours or more of sleep. Hypertension or high blood pressure is a significant risk factor for developing heart disease and subsequent heart attacks. Heart disease is also the leading cause of death for both men and women.

A total of 6,592 men and women participated in the study at Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick of which 4199 were men and 1567 were women. The Warwick investigators defined hypertension as a blood pressure of equal to or greater than 140/90 mm Hg, or subjects who regularly took high blood pressure medication.

The findings were surprising. Previous studies had reported that people who slept less had more risk for having hypertension. These studies did not, however, look at men and women separately.

Professor Francesco Cappuccio’s study from the Warwick Medical School shows that women who slept less than 5 hours were twice as likely to have high blood pressure than women who slept the recommended 7 or more hours of sleep. Men on the other hand, showed no difference in hypertension rates regardless if they slept less than 5 hours or more than 7 hours.

So if you are a woman you need more sleep than a man in order to decrease your risk for high blood pressure. Men however, should not take this study as green light that they can sleep less and not risk damage to their health. Professor Cappuccio reports, “Sustained sleep curtailment, ensuing excessive daytime sleepiness, and the higher cardiovascular risk are causes for concern. Emerging evidence also suggests a potential role for sleep deprivation as a predictor or risk for conditions like obesity and diabetes.”

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Comments (Scroll to the end to leave a comment)

CoachZ

08/13/10 11:14

Typo in the last paragraph ("if your are")

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