there is a strong bond in women – WWN

L’insomnia it affects between 10 and 30% of the general population and women are affected almost one and a half times more than men, starting from puberty: in fact, sexual hormones play a role in regulating sleep. During menopause, the sudden drop in estrogen and progesterone, which promote falling asleep and sleep continuity, leads to a flare-up of the disorder. Also the greater propensity of women to develop disorders such as anxiety and depression contributes to promoting the disorder, resulting in daytime symptoms such as easy irritability, drowsiness, inattention, poor motivation and mood changes that interfere with social, work and family activities.

Hypertension

Women must not resign themselves to this situation: a study on 66,122 women followed for 16 years with biannual checks, published in the journal Hypertension by researchers at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston directed by Eva Schernhammer, opens the door to a new possibility of intervention and control of insomnia through a factor that can be modified with the help of the doctor: L’hypertensionwhich in women was found to be closely related toinsomnia
.

Early marker

Not only: sleep disorders can, on the other hand, become a sign of the risk of hypertension
because the close correlation found between the two disorders offers the possibility of an early marker for a disease that is affecting women at an increasingly younger age (around the age of 30) and to an increasing extent, almost reaching males who are always were the gender most affected by hypertension and that they were surpassed by women only with the arrival of menopause
, a hypertensive trend that begins around the age of 60 in the fairer sex. The discovery of this correlation is also important because the damage from hypertension is greater in women than in men, just think of preeclampsia during pregnancy, which puts the mother and the unborn child at risk.

Hours of sleep and risk

The American study found that the risk of hypertension was greater in those who slept ≤5 hourswhile it was lower in women who slept 7-8 hours and zero in those who slept at least 9. Early awakening was not associated with this risk, nor were correlations observed with carrying out night jobs such as that of call center shift workers or stewardesses subjected to jet lag during intercontinental flights, situations that can alter the chronotype, i.e. the automatic rhythms of waking and sleeping.

Reverse effect

Therefore, if the two disorders are so interconnected with each other, blood pressure control can be added to the many anti-insomnia treatments known today. In addition to the many drugs available, which only the doctor knows how to choose and manage over time depending on the needs of the individual patient (do-it-yourself with over-the-counter drugs should always be avoided, which can expose you to the risk of the disorder becoming chronic), there are also apply the so-called consistently sleep hygiene rules: regularity at bedtime and dinner times, abstinence from drinks (coffee, alcohol) or exposure to light stimuli (tablets, computers), possibly to be associated with cognitive-behavioral therapy. To these indications is also added blood pressure control. And sleep screening can become a useful measure to identify in time those at greatest risk of hypertension.