How sleep problems and inflammation affect blood pressure

Have you ever wondered why a good night's sleep is so important for your heart? Recent research from a team of scientists has uncovered a surprising link between sleep problems, body inflammation, and high blood pressure, especially in adults across the United States. Let’s explore what they found, why it matters, and how this knowledge can help keep our hearts healthier.

Understanding sleep disturbance and hypertension

We all know that getting enough sleep makes us feel better, but poor sleep can do more than make us tired. It can actually affect our blood pressure, which is the force of blood pushing against the walls of our blood vessels. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a major risk for heart disease and stroke, and it affects over 1.2 billion people worldwide. Scientists have already shown that people who struggle with sleep are more likely to develop hypertension, but they weren’t sure exactly why this happens (Javaheri & Redline, 2017).

What is the systemic immune inflammation index (SII)?

A big clue comes from something called inflammation. Inflammation is how our bodies react to things that bother us, like germs or stress. Sometimes, inflammation can go up in the whole body, which isn’t healthy if it lasts too long. Scientists can measure this with a tool called the Systemic Immune Inflammation Index (SII). SII uses three types of cells in our blood: platelets (help with clotting), neutrophils (fight germs), and lymphocytes (help with immunity). By combining these numbers, doctors get an idea of how much inflammation is happening in the body (Hu et al., 2014).

What the new study discovered

In the latest study, researchers used information from over 23,000 adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2005 and 2020 (Cao et al., 2025). They looked at people's sleep habits, blood pressure, and levels of SII. They found that people with high blood pressure or sleep problems had higher SII scores, meaning more body inflammation. Even after considering other factors like age, weight, and other health issues, sleep troubles and high blood pressure were closely linked to higher inflammation.

Inflammation’s role in connecting sleep and blood pressure

The most interesting part? SII acted as a kind of bridge between sleep problems and high blood pressure, but mostly in men. In other words, for men, some of the reason why sleep problems raise blood pressure is because of extra inflammation in the body. For women, there wasn’t a strong link between SII and high blood pressure, even though both sleep problems and inflammation are still important. Researchers think this difference may be due to the way male and female hormones affect inflammation and blood pressure (Liu et al., 2016).

Why does good sleep matter for your heart?

Other scientific studies agree that not getting enough sleep or having poor sleep quality can raise the risk of high blood pressure (Guo et al., 2013). When we don’t sleep well, our bodies stay in a kind of “high alert” mode. This can make the heart beat faster and blood pressure go up. Over time, too much inflammation can hurt our blood vessels and make it even harder for the heart to do its job (Zielinski et al., 2019).

If you want to learn more about how hormones like estrogen protect blood vessels from inflammation and lower the risk of high blood pressure in women, check out this easy-to-read SlothMD article. For more about diets that help keep your brain and blood pressure healthy, you might enjoy this SlothMD guide about the DASH diet.

What it means for patients

So, what should you take away from this study? First, taking care of your sleep is just as important as eating healthy and exercising for your heart. If you have trouble sleeping, talk to your doctor. They can help you figure out what’s causing your sleep issues and suggest ways to improve your rest. This could help lower inflammation and reduce your risk of high blood pressure, especially if you’re a man.

The promise of health AI and future research

As health AI tools like SlothMD continue to grow, they can help us better track our sleep and heart health, and even spot inflammation problems early. Scientists still need to do more research to understand exactly how sleep, inflammation, and blood pressure are linked in both men and women. But the message is clear: good sleep helps your body stay calm inside, and that keeps your heart strong.