Can an afternoon nap raise your blood pressure?

WINSTON Churchill and Margaret Thatcher swore by them for much needed energy. But it seems power naps might be bad for us.

Those who steal forty winks in the day are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure, according to research.

The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota pooled data from nine studies with 112,267 participants. They found those who took a snooze in the middle of the day were between 1 and 19 per cent more likely to have hypertension.

But when the researchers looked at the association between night-time napping in those who work night shifts, there was not the same link. One study found shift workers who napped at night actually had a 21 per cent reduced risk.

The clinic’s Dr Wisit Cheungpasitporn said: ‘More research is needed to better understand if the duration of midday sleep, or if diet, exercise, or an underlying medical condition, might be impacting risk.’ Another study presented at a New York conference found eating grated Italian cheese could reduce blood pressure.

Researchers said that eating a daily ounce of grana padana – a hard cheese similar to parmesan – was just as good as taking blood pressure medication.

Scientists from the Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital and Catholic University in Piacenza, Italy, said peptides in the cheese relax blood vessels, using the same action common blood pressure pills. Researcher Dr Giuseppe Crippa told the American Society of Hypertension: ‘Adding a little Grana Padano to a healthy diet may provide clinically significant blood pressure lowering benefits.’

At least 16million in Britain have high blood pressure, which is known as the ‘silent killer’ because there are no obvious symptoms.

Left untreated it can lead to a heart attack, stroke and kidney disease.

Patients are given drugs to reduce the pressure, but in up to a fifth of cases these do not work.