6 Reasons Your Blood Pressure May Be Rising At Night

Have you observed that when you are about to sleep and check your blood pressure,
the result is a  normal Blood Pressure but when you wake up in the middle of the night or in the morning and feel your chest pumping or beating fast and you check your Blood Pressure, you discover its off the roof.

Is it something to worry about? 

I think the answer is a very big YES. You need to see your doctor for any issues concerning your heart and not rely on mere speculations.

Here are possible reasons why you may be experiencing High Blood Pressure spikes at night.

1. Inadequate Night Sleep

There is a relationship between inadequate sleep at night and high blood pressure.

Inability to sleep at night can be caused by several factors. 

You need to identify what may be causing you sleepless nights and fix it as soon as possible 

You need to take at least 8 hours of sleep every night preferably starting from 9pm.  People who only slept 6 hours the previous night are known to have a higher Blood Pressure.

Cultivating this habit will help reduce stress hormones that lead to high blood pressure.

2. Busy lifestyle During The Day

Your kind of activities during the day plays a huge role in your Blood Pressure readings the following morning. 

Studies have shown that people who have a higher night time Blood Pressure readings have higher death rate.

For this reason, one should learn to take life a little bit easy and avoid a stressful lifestyle.

3. Knowing The Best Time To Take Blood Pressure Drugs

If you have noticed that your Blood Pressure increases at night, I feel the best time to take the Blood Pressure drugs should be at night. 

This should be confirmed with your doctor.

There are confirmations that those who took Blood Pressure drugs before bedtime are less likely to have a heart attack, stroke and heart disease.

4. Not Sleeping With Heat Pads

There are some people that have been diagnosed with a condition called Supine Hypertension which is a condition that increases Blood Pressure when lying down. You will notice a drop in Blood Pressure Levels with the use of Overnight Heat Therapy.

5. Taking Nicotine, Hormonal Drugs and Antidepressants

It is a known fact that Nicotine found in tobacco is a major risk factor when it concerns the health of your heart. 

This is because Nicotine causes the blood vessels to constrict putting more pressure on the heart to pump blood which increases Blood Pressure.

Taking caffeine loaded tea during the day can also affect Blood pressure results in the morning.

6. Sleeping With Lights on or Artificial light

I have heard people say that they sleep with lights on. This is just a personal preference as there are people who cannot fall asleep in day time or with the lights on. 

People who are afraid of nightmares or live alone prefer to sleep with lights on. Maybe it offers them some kind of peace knowing that they can see clearly before sleep or when they wake up in the middle of the night.

There is a problem with sleeping with artificial lights because it disrupts your sleep cycle.

Humans naturally produce Melatonin during the night which causes the feeling that you want to sleep. As the day comes, the production of Melatonin reduces which is why people rarely feel sleepy during the day.

So if you are used to sleeping with artificial lights on, your sleep cycle will be disrupted.

When your sleep cycle is disrupted it increases your stress hormones leading to High Blood Pressure.