The NetNutritionist Blog

Insomnia Increases Risk for Hypertension.
Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Source: Sleep
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Insomnia is the chronic inability to fall asleep or to stay asleep. While everyone occasionally experiences a sleepless night now and then without harm, long-term insomnia can be debilitating. After yet another night of inadequate sleep, insomnia sufferers typically report impaired mental and physical abilities, diminished memory, reduced alertness, and slow reaction times. Chronic lack of sleep threatens the well-being, productivity, and safety of millions of Americans. Insomnia is not a disease unto itself but a condition associated with a number of different physical and emotional disorders. The incidence of insomnia is higher among people with chronic illnesses such as hyperthyroidism, kidney trouble, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease. Pregnancy, alcohol intake, stress, and depression are also leading causes of insomnia.

Hypertension is a type of cardiovascular disease characterized by elevation of blood pressure above the level considered normal for people of similar racial and environmental backgrounds. Because it affects the entire circulatory system, hypertension can be detrimental to all the major organs, including the heart, brain, and kidneys. It may contribute to death from heart failure, heart attacks, stroke, and even kidney failure. It should be emphasized that a single reading of high blood pressure does not indicate hypertension. If blood pressure readings taken on two or more subsequent days are 140/90 mm Hg or higher, then a diagnosis of hypertension can be confirmed. Some basic laboratory tests should be performed before any medication is started.

Researchers at the Penn State College of Medicine have found that chronic insomnia with objectively measured short sleep time is an independent and clinically significant risk factor for hypertension. The study included a random sample of 1,741 men and women in central Pennsylvania with an average age of 49 years. Of those included in the study, twenty-one percent had a severely short sleep duration of less than five hours, 23 percent had a moderately short sleep duration of five to six hours and 56 percent had a normal sleep duration of more than six hours. Although the nature of the study did not allow for causality to be determined, the authors note that large amounts of clinical and research data indicate that it is very likely that insomnia leads to hypertension. The risk for hypertension was 500 percent higher for participants with insomnia compared to participants that slept more than six hours. It was found that neither insomnia with normal sleep duration of more than six hours nor short sleep duration without a sleep complaint was associated with a significant risk for hypertension. This information suggests that there is an additive or synergistic effect on hypertension risk when insomnia occurs in combination with short sleep duration. Since the study was representative of the general population, the researchers suggest that an estimated eight percent to 10 percent of the US population may be at risk for hypertension and other significant medical complications related to chronic insomnia.1

1 Vgontzas AN, Liao D, Bixler EO, et al. Insomnia with Objective Short Sleep Duration is Associated with a High Risk for Hypertension. Sleep. Apr2009;32(4):491-497.

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By Neil Merrett, 23-Apr-2009
Related topics: Industry & markets

As consumers seek out food with a reduced carbon footprint, some experts believe a dietary shift from red meat and dairy consumption may be more effective than turning to locally sourced products, suggests new analysis.

In a report for the environmental research group, the Worldwatch Institute, Sarah DeWeerdt looked at the potential environmental benefits of locally sourced goods in relation to other food production models.

According to current estimates from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, US food travels on average 1,500 miles between the farm and consumer, leading to increase output of Greenhouse Gas (GHG).

However, on a global basis, DeWeerdt wrote that findings from the Carnegie Mellon University claimed that a reduced reliance on more heavily transported foods might not be as beneficial as replacing dairy or red meat with poultry or eggs one day a week.

Agricultural commitments

Amidst such claims, the agricultural sector, supported by the wider dairy and meat industries, claims to be increasingly working to adopt greener methods across their supply chain. Farmers also suggest that these environmental criticisms do not account for benefits livestock has on biodiversity.

The UK-based National Farmers Union (NFU) claimed that methane emissions from the cows was continually decreasing in the country, while livestock farms as a whole had a massive role in the carbon cycle.

A spokesperson for the group claimed last year that the environmental attacks failed to take into account of a number of environmental benefits created by grazing livestock, such as grazed upland habitats, lowland biodiversity and manure, which made organic farming possible.

Food miles

Nonetheless, citing research from Carnegie Mellon analysts Christopher Weber and Scott Matthews, the report suggested that even by theoretically cutting food miles by an impossible level, in this case zero, diet could prove a more effective green initiative.

“Replacing red meat and dairy with chicken, fish, or eggs for one day per week would save the equivalent of driving 760 miles per year,” stated the report. “Replacing red meat and dairy with vegetables one day a week would be like driving 1,160 miles less.”

DeWeerdt said that Weber has accepted in the findings published last year that estimates were based on the assumption that local foods were no different to further sourced goods, a stance that was not always the case.

“Local-food advocates also emphasize eating seasonal (often meaning field-grown) and less-processed foods,” she stated. “Those qualities, along with shorter distances from farm to table, will also contribute to lower emissions compared to the ‘average’ diet.”

Beyond the dietary calls, the Worldwatch Institute said in the report that eating local did seem to provide a ‘common sense’ method of cutting carbon footprints where possible.

The report said that a team of researchers led by the Leopold Center’s associate director Rich Pirog found that conventional food distribution systems used between 4 and 17 times more fuel than for local products. This level of fuel use also amounted to 5 to 17 times more Carbon Dioxide (CO2) than local or regional systems, according to the same findings.

“Similarly, a Canadian study estimated that replacing imported food with equivalent items locally grown in the Waterloo, Ontario, region would save transport-related emissions equivalent to nearly 50,000 metric tonnes of CO2,” stated the report. "[That’s] the equivalent of taking 16,191 cars off the road.”

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