Do you find yourself taking a nap every day? If so, it could be a sign that you have high blood pressure or are at risk for a stroke. Studies have shown that people who take naps often are more likely to have heart problems down the road. So if you’re noticing that you need to take a nap frequently. It’s important to see your doctor and get checked out. High blood pressure can be treated, but it’s important to catch it early!

Observational Study

For the observational analysis, the researchers analyzed data from the UK BiobankTrusted Source

. That study recorded genetic and health data from more than 500,000 participants ages 40-69. That were living in the United States between 2006-2010.

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Participants who already had hypertension or a stroke by the beginning of the study were excluded from the results. Ultimately, researchers looked at 358,451 participants. This was a study in association between the frequency of naps and first-time reports of stroke or high blood pressure. Researchers divided the participants into groups according to the frequency of nap-taking categories: usually, sometimes, and never/rarely.

Among those: 50,507 had hypertension, and 4,333 had strokes with median follow-ups of 11.16 years.

Napping Often Could Be A Sign

If you find yourself taking a nap every day, it could be a sign that you have high blood pressure. And or are at risk for a stroke. Studies have shown that people who take naps often are more likely to have heart problems down the road. So if you’re noticing that you need to take a nap frequently. It’s important to see your doctor and get checked out. High blood pressure can be treated, but it’s important to catch it early!

To Nap or Not to Nap

Experts believe getting quality sleep is a key component of good health. American Heart Association recently added sleep duration to the eight essential metrics Trusted Source for optimal heart and brain health.

While this study found daytime napping may be associated with an increased risk to be Signs of High Blood Pressure and hypertension, several other studies, like this one from

2022 Trusted Source, suggest daytime

napping may improve cognitive performance. “Whether nap is good for health is controversial,” Dr. Wang wrote to MNT.

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What The Heart Wants It Gets

The body of research on napping suggests to Dr. Wang. That for middle-aged people, a daily nap of between 15 and 30. minutes “might be the best. As well as not associated with the risk of cardiometabolic disease.”

Dr. Yu-Ming Ni, a cardiologist at MemorialCare Heart and Vascular Institute. This is located at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California. Dr told MNT that the naps on their own likely aren’t the problem. It’s that a person who feels compelled to nap during the day. This may not be getting enough sleep or good quality sleep.

“If you’re one of those people. You should ask yourself, ‘Why is it that I feel the need to nap later in the day? Is there something I can do about the way that I sleep [so that] I have better energy later on so that I won’t have to take a nap?’” Dr. Ni explained. “If you can answer that question, I think that will go a long way toward understanding whether you are at risk for developing heart disease or not.”

Dr. Ni recommends that individuals who think they may have sleep apnea talk with their doctors. Sleep apnea is a common condition where a person’s breathing stops and starts several times as they sleep. Symptoms can include feeling fatigue, irritability, and difficulty concentrating during the day. Dr. Ni also reminds his patients to be vigilant about turning off screens a few hours before bedtime.

Bottom Line

“I think this is a huge problem in our current time,” Dr. Ni told MNT. “We have hormones that are influenced by how much light our eyes see. As well as how much light our eyes don’t see and those hormones drive us to … sleep or not. So if you have light exposure at nighttime … from the TV, or a computer screen, or from your smartphone, it’s going to trick [your] brain into thinking that it isn’t time to sleep yet.”

Don’t sleep on the blog. Pay attention to the signs.