High blood pressure medications work better at bedtime

It is important to know the best time to take medication, because lowering your blood pressure reduces the risk of diseases such as heart attacks and strokes by 45 per cent.

Take high blood pressure medication at bedtime
Ramón Hermida of the University of Vigo in Spain and his colleagues randomly divided 19,000 men and women with high blood pressure into two groups. The team asked half of the people to take their medication before going to bed and the other half to take it when they woke up.

Each person recorded their sleep patterns and received follow-up visits to check their blood pressure and check for side effects. They were monitored for an average of six years.

The team found that those who took their medication at bedtime had lower blood pressure during sleep than those who took it the next morning. This difference reduced the risk of heart disease - the total number of heart diseases in the bedtime group was 43 percent lower than in the morning group.

Previous research has shown that blood pressure during sleep is a good indicator of heart conditions - high blood pressure at night indicates a problem, whether or not it is normal during the day. Taking the drug before bed - when blood pressure is naturally lower - can amplify its effects by tapping into people's natural biological clock.

This may explain why participants who were taking their medications at bedtime obtained blood pressure that continued to drop during the trial, which may even explain factors that usually increase the risk of getting sick, such as old age and diabetes.

Blood pressure should be monitored over a 24-hour period
Daytime measurements alone are not enough, as they can distort a person's actual blood pressure, leading to misdiagnosis," says Hermida. Ideally, blood pressure should be monitored over a 24-hour period to take into account our lifestyle and provide as complete a picture as possible," he says.

Candance McNaughton of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, says the study can help patients get the most out of their medications, but the impact can depend on the severity of your condition.

"The benefit was greater for those who had not been treated in the past and for those who had not had a history of cardiovascular disease. In other words, the patients who benefited the most were the healthiest," she says.