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8/11/20: Desk Ergonomics & Stretches for Everyday Virtual Session

Join Matt Drzik of REHAB AT WORK Tuesday, August 11th, 2020 at 10 AM for a virtual session on Desk Ergonomics & Stretches to help you better transition to the Work From Home lifestyle. This event is hosted by REHAB AT WORK, Comp-X Medical Management, and Titan Investigative Alliance, LLC.

We hope you’ll join us for this virtual session, and we look forward to seeing you there!

When the session begins on 8/11/20 at 10 AM, please click here to join.

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Can A Bad Night’s Sleep Be Linked To High Blood Pressure?

Recent research shows that getting poor sleep can lead to a spikes in blood pressure. In our clinics, we routinely screen our patients for blood pressure, whether it’s for a physical or occupational therapy evaluation or an FCE or every day in a work hardening program. It’s quite alarming to see that a growing number of our patients are found either to have known hypertension for which they take medication or have no idea that they have hypertension only to be discovered by our screening. We have used patient education materials about the importance of getting proper sleep for years mainly to discuss how it can help manage the symptoms of chronic pain. Now we know that getting proper sleep may also help with the management of blood pressure.  In fact, researchers in this article suggest that there are probably a host of other health issues related to getting poor sleep. See the link below for a summary of their research findings, and get an answer to can a bad night’s sleep be linked to high blood pressure?

Sleepless Nights Linked to High Blood Pressure

Date:

June 4, 2019

Source:

University of Arizona

Summary:

A bad night’s sleep may result in a spike in blood pressure that night and the following day, according to new research led by the University of Arizona. The study, to be published in Psychosomatic Medicine, offers one possible explanation for why sleep problems have been shown to increase the risk of heart attack, stroke and even death from cardiovascular disease. 

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FULL STORY

A bad night’s sleep may result in a spike in blood pressure that night and the following day, according to new research led by the University of Arizona.

The study, to be published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, offers one possible explanation for why sleep problems have been shown to increase the risk of heart attack, stroke and even death from cardiovascular disease.

The link between poor sleep and cardiovascular health problems is increasingly well-established in scientific literature, but the reason for the relationship is less understood.

Researchers set out to learn more about the connection in a study of 300 men and women, ages 21 to 70, with no history of heart problems. Participants wore portable blood pressure cuffs for two consecutive days. The cuffs randomly took participants’ blood pressure during 45-minute intervals throughout each day and also overnight.

At night, participants wore actigraphy monitors — wristwatch-like devices that measure movement — to help determine their “sleep efficiency,” or the amount of time in bed spent sleeping soundly.

Overall, those who had lower sleep efficiency showed an increase in blood pressure during that restless night. They also had higher systolic blood pressure — the top number in a patient’s blood pressure reading — the next day.

More research is needed to understand why poor sleep raises blood pressure and what it could mean long-term for people with chronic sleep issues. Yet, these latest findings may be an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to understanding the pathway through which sleep impacts overall cardiovascular health.

“Blood pressure is one of the best predictors of cardiovascular health,” said lead study author Caroline Doyle, a graduate student in the UA Department of Psychology. “There is a lot of literature out there that shows sleep has some kind of impact on mortality and on cardiovascular disease, which is the No. 1 killer of people in the country. We wanted to see if we could try to get a piece of that story — how sleep might be impacting disease through blood pressure.”

The study reinforces just how important a good night’s sleep can be. It’s not just the amount of time you spend in bed, but the quality of sleep you’re getting, said study co-author John Ruiz, UA associate professor of psychology.

Improving sleep quality can start with making simple changes and being proactive, Ruiz said.

“Keep the phone in a different room,” he suggested. “If your bedroom window faces the east, pull the shades. For anything that’s going to cause you to waken, think ahead about what you can do to mitigate those effects.”

For those with chronic sleep troubles, Doyle advocates cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBTI, which focuses on making behavioral changes to improve sleep health. CBTI is slowly gaining traction in the medical field and is recommended by both the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine as the first line of treatment for insomnia.

Doyle and Ruiz say they hope their findings — showing the impact even one fitful night’s rest can have on the body — will help illuminate just how critical sleep is for heart health.

“This study stands on the shoulders of a broad literature looking at sleep and cardiovascular health,” Doyle said. “This is one more study that shows something is going on with sleep and our heart health. Sleep is important, so whatever you can do to improve your sleep, it’s worth prioritizing.”

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Arizona. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

  • Caroline Y. Doyle, John M. Ruiz, Daniel J. Taylor, Joshua W. Smyth, Melissa Flores, Jessica Dietch, Chul Ahn, Matthew Allison, Timothy W. Smith, Bert N. Uchino. Associations Between Objective Sleep and Ambulatory Blood Pressure in a Community Sample. Psychosomatic Medicine, 2019; 1 DOI: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000711 

REHAB AT WORK has clinics located across Maryland, Virginia, and the DC area. Contact us to learn about our physical therapy services, or refer a patient to our clinics.

Article by Guy Seeley, PT