Sleep restriction and its influence on blood pressure

Recovery Sleep After Sleep Restriction Is Insufficient to Return Elevated Daytime Heart Rate and Systolic Blood Pressure to Baseline Levels

OBJECTIVE

Sleep restriction alters daytime cardiac activity, including elevating heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP). There is minimal research on the cumulative effects of sleep loss and the response after subsequent recovery sleep on HR and BP. This study examined patterns of HR and BP across baseline, sleep restriction, and recovery conditions using multiple daytime cardiac measurements.

METHODS

Participants (15 healthy men, mean [standard deviation] = 22.3 [2.8] years) completed an 11-day inpatient protocol with three nights of 10 hours/night baseline sleep opportunity, five sleep restriction nights (5-hour/night sleep opportunity), and two recovery nights (10-hour/night sleep opportunity). Resting HR and BP were measured every 2 hours during wake. Multilevel models with random effects for individuals examined daytime HR and BP across study conditions and days into the study.

RESULTS

Mean daytime HR was 1.2 (0.5) beats/min lower during sleep restriction compared with baseline ( p < .001). During recovery, HR was 5.5 (1.0) beats/min higher ( p < .001), and systolic BP (SBP) was 2.9 (1.1) mm Hg higher ( p = .009). When accounting for days into the study (irrespective of condition) and measurement timing across the day, HR increased by 7.6 beats/min and SBP increased by 3.4 mm Hg across the study period ( p < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that daytime HR and SBP increase after successive nights of sleep restriction, even after accounting for measurement time of day. HR and SBP did not recover to baseline levels after two recovery nights of sleep, suggesting that longer recovery sleep may be necessary to recover from multiple, consecutive nights of moderate sleep restriction.

Sleep and Circadian Disturbance in Cardiovascular Risk

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

We discuss the relationship between sleep and circadian factors with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, including physiologic, behavioral, and psychological mechanisms along this pathway.

RECENT FINDINGS

The relationship between short and long sleep duration, as well as insomnia, with CVD risk is well-established. Recent work has highlighted how other sleep factors, such as sleep regularity (i.e., consistency of sleep timing), multidimensional sleep health, and circadian factors like chronotype and social jetlag, relate to CVD risk. Sleep-focused interventions (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and sleep extension) may be effective to reduce CVD risk and disease burden. Sleep is increasingly recognized as an integral component of cardiovascular health. This was underscored by the recent inclusion of sleep duration as a health behavior in the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 for defining optimal cardiovascular health.

Sleep of Intensive Care Patients: A Qualitative Study Based on Experiences of Nurses

BACKGROUND

Intensive care patients experience a high rate of poor sleep quality. As the sleep quality is improved with nursing practices, patients' recovery and the length of stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) may be positively influenced, and patients may benefit from treatment and care at the highest level. Therefore, it is important to explore the experiences and evaluation of nurses working in ICUs.

OBJECTIVES

This study was carried out to explore the experiences and evaluations of ICU nurses about patients' sleep.

METHODS

The study is a qualitative study conducted in a descriptive phenomenological design. The data were collected using the individual in-depth interview method with the semistructured interview form. Thematic analysis was performed to analyze the data. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) checklist was used.

RESULTS

The analysis revealed 4 main themes, which are (1) importance of sleep, (2) evaluation of sleep, (3) reasons for poor sleep, and (4) sleep promotion interventions.

CONCLUSIONS

This study revealed that nurses are aware of the importance of sleep; however, they do not evaluate sleep and try to improve sleep quality only based on their own knowledge and experience rather than on evidence-based approaches. However, their interventions are not sufficient and they are restricted because of physical conditions and intensive care procedures.

The Effect of Using Eye Masks and Earplugs on Intensive Care Patients Quality of Sleep and Vital Signs

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients with severe health problems experience a high rate of sleep deprivation that harms their psychological and physiological health. Environmental factors are considered to be the greatest cause of sleep deprivation in the ICU, and noise and light are leading among these factors. This study aimed to investigate the effect of eye masks and earplugs on the sleep quality and vital signs of conscious ICU patients. METHODS: This study used a quasi-experimental, in similar groups, pretest-posttest design with a control group. The Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ) was used to collect data, and vital signs were recorded every 2 hours. On day 1, standard care was provided to the experimental group (n = 32), and they were provided with eye masks and earplugs on day 2. The control group (n = 32) was provided with standard care on both days. Chi-square, t, and McNemar and McNemar-Bowker tests were used to analyze the data. Multiple regression analysis was used for predictive analysis. RESULTS: The RCSQ mean (SD) pretest and posttest scores were 50.21 (16.02) and 68.50 (17.57), respectively, for the experimental group and 55.34 (16.62) and 49.03 (15.53), respectively, for the control group. In the experimental group, the posttest RCSQ score was significantly higher than the pretest RCSQ score (P < .01). No differences in vital signs were observed in the control group. All the vital signs were found to be similar in the experimental group, except for the mean daily pulse rate. CONCLUSION: The use of earplugs and eye masks may help reduce sleep deprivation. Eye masks and earplugs can be used by nurses to improve the sleep quality of patients in ICUs.

Effects of Sleep Deprivation on the Tryptophan Metabolism

Sleep has a regulatory role in maintaining metabolic homeostasis and cellular functions. Inadequate sleep time and sleep disorders have become more prevalent in the modern lifestyle. Fragmentation of sleep pattern alters critical intracellular second messengers and neurotransmitters which have key functions in brain development and behavioral functions. Tryptophan metabolism has also been found to get altered in SD and it is linked to various neurodegenerative diseases. The kynurenine pathway is a major regulator of the immune response. Adequate sleep alleviates neuroinflammation and facilitates the cellular clearance of metabolic toxins produced within the brain, while sleep deprivation activates the enzymatic degradation of tryptophan via the kynurenine pathway, which results in an increased accumulation of neurotoxic metabolites. SD causes increased production and accumulation of kynurenic acid in various regions of the brain. Higher levels of kynurenic acid have been found to trigger apoptosis, leads to cognitive decline, and inhibit neurogenesis. This review aims to link the impact of sleep deprivation on tryptophan metabolism and associated complication in the brain.

Smokeless tobacco: Risk factor for cardiovascular and breathing in young Indian adolescent

BACKGROUND

Teenagers are the foremost susceptible population to smokeless tobacco usage and limited studies have surveyed the influence of smokeless tobacco on cardiac and respiratory response.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to measure consequence (cardiovascular and breathing) of smokeless tobacco usage (gutkha and chewing tobacco) among young Indian men.

METHOD

On random basis, the applicants were divided into Group I (n=50) - healthy control group, Group II (n=50) - smokeless tobacco users. Anthropometric measurements and recording of blood pressure (BP), pulse wave analysis (PWV), heart rate variability (HRV) and pulmonary function test (PFT) was performed.

RESULT

We observed that altogether anthropometric variables were comparable among all individuals. In blood pressure variable, except DBP, other variables for example SBP, PP and MAP were significantly increased in Group II individuals, once compare to Group I. Pulse wave analysis, (such as, AP, AIx, and SEVR), was comparable in individuals of both groups. As compare to Group I, HR was significantly increased in Group II. In HRV investigation, NN, VLF, LF, LF(nu), LF/HF were increased significantly and TSP, HF, HF(nu) were decreased significantly in Group II with compare to Group I. In PFT analysis, FVC was comparable among individuals of both the group and conversely, significant decrease in FEV₁, FEV₁/FVC, FEF_25-75 and PEFR in Group II when compare with Group I.

CONCLUSION

This study illustrate that smokeless tobacco practice has increasing adverse effects on cardiovascular as well as breathing system and become an important public health problem.

Disparities in Hypertension Among African-Americans: Implications of Insufficient Sleep

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Sleep deficiency has been proposed as a potential contributor to racial disparities in cardiovascular health. We present contemporary evidence on the unequal burden of insufficient sleep in Blacks/African-Americans and the repercussions for disparate risk of hypertension.

RECENT FINDINGS

The prevalence of insufficient sleep is high and rising and has been recognized as an important cardiovascular risk factor. Presumably due to a constellation of environmental, psychosocial, and individual determinants, these risks appear exacerbated in Blacks/African-Americans, who are more likely to experience short sleep than other ethnic/racial groups. Population-based data suggest that the risk of hypertension associated with sleep deficiency is greater in those of African ancestry. However, there is a paucity of experimental evidence linking short sleep duration to blood pressure levels in African-Americans. Blacks/African-Americans may be more vulnerable to sleep deficiency and to its hypertensive effects. Future research is needed to unequivocally establish causality and determine the mechanism underlying the postulated racial inequalities in sleep adequacy and consequent cardiovascular risk.