It is not a myth! Scientists claim: Marriage may really raise blood pressure!

There has long been a cynical saying that marriage can raise blood pressure levels.

Now, a new study claims that it is more than just a myth, and that married couples are more susceptible to this fatal condition.

The study researchers wanted to test whether multiple couples with the same interests, living environment, lifestyle habits, and health outcomes might also share the same condition as high blood pressure.

They analyzed blood pressure measurements in 1,086 English couples, along with 3,989 American couples, 6,514 Chinese couples, and 22,389 Indian couples.

People were recorded as having high blood pressure if their systolic blood pressure was greater than 140 mm Hg, or diastolic pressure was greater than 90 mm Hg, or if they answered yes when asked if they had a history of high blood pressure.

The researchers found that about 47% of couples in England, with an average age of 74.2 for males and 72.5 for females, suffer from high blood pressure, a higher percentage than 38% in the United States, 21% in China, and 20% in India. 

Compared to women married to husbands who did not suffer from high blood pressure, women married to men with high blood pressure were 9% more likely to develop high blood pressure.

Similar associations were observed among husbands with their wives and high blood pressure, according to findings published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Experts said the findings highlight the potential benefits of using couple-based approaches to diagnosing and managing high blood pressure, such as marital screening, skills training or joint participation in programmes, rather than treating people individually.

“If your husband has high blood pressure, he or she is more likely to have high blood pressure, too,” said Bethany Baron Gibbs, an assistant professor at West Virginia University School of Public Health. “Following that thought, making lifestyle changes, such as becoming more active, or "Reducing stress or eating a healthy diet can all lower blood pressure. However, these changes may be difficult to achieve and, more importantly, maintain if your spouse does not make changes with you."

A way to avoid waking up at night

According to Dr. Roman Bozonov, a specialist in sleep science and problems, insomnia usually begins after waking up at night and thinking about not being able to sleep again.

The specialist points out in an interview with Sputnik Radio that sleep consists of several stages and physiological awakening occurs every two hours, and healthy people simply do not pay attention to this.

He says: “A healthy person wakes up every two hours, opens his eyes, turns over, changes his position, falls asleep and forgets that he woke up. This is normal. Problems begin when these awakenings make a person feel anxious and think that he will not be able to sleep, so what should I do?” This is stress, this is a jump in blood pressure, and the person will actually not sleep. Because he has a conditioned reflex of fear, of not sleeping, and bed is associated with insomnia, that is, a vicious cycle is created for him that can lead to severe sleep disturbances.”

The doctor continued: If a person cannot sleep, he should not stay in bed.

He says: “If a person lies down and cannot sleep because something is bothering him, or he is suffering from stress, the first golden rule is that he cannot lie in bed without sleeping. If he does not fall asleep within 15 minutes, he must get up and go to another room and do something annoying.” "He can leave it at any moment and go to bed. The second rule: Even if a person does not sleep for a sufficient period of time, he should not change the time he wakes up, because the lack of sleep makes him sleep better. The third rule: Do not cancel anything for the next day."

According to him, sleep regulation is much better than any anti-insomnia drug.

He says: “Insomnia, in many cases, is not considered a disease, but rather a disorder in thinking and behavior. It is strange that the best method for treating such insomnia is to restrict sleep. Once we create a lack of sleep, the person suffers from extreme sleepiness, but when he approaches... Bed, he starts thinking, “What if I don’t sleep,” and yet he lies down and falls asleep. It is enough for him to fall asleep 10-15 times without fear, and he will have a positive reflex - go to bed to sleep.”