Self-Measured Bed-Time, Arising and Day Blood Pressures of Normotensive Young Male and Female Adults

Morning surge in blood pressure is anindependent cardiovascular risk factor in the middleagedand the elderly. Whether such a surge occurs inyoung subjects is not known. Eighty normotensivesubjects (age: 21.8 ± 1.3 yr) measured their own bloodpressure (BP) using an automatic device (OmronHEM-7080,) on going to bed and on waking up, for 2consecutive days. In contrast to large morning BP surgesreported for older age groups, there was much smallerbut significant (P<0.002) rise only in the DBP (1.9 ±5 mm Hg) on waking up on day 2 in young subjects.The duration of sleep and the time the subjects sleptinfluence the sleep-wake BP change.