Sleep allows the human heart to slow down and allows blood pressure to drop for a significant part of the day. People deprived of sleep for a short term raise their average 24-hour blood pressure and heart rate, and this makes the cardiovascular system operate at an elevated level of pressure. In short, sleep deprivation is a viable cause of high blood pressure.

According to a healthy study conducted by Columbia University and released in the Journal of the American Heart Association, there is a higher risk of developing high blood pressure if a middle-aged person gets less than five hours of sleep per night. This association, however, was not observed among people aged sixty or older. Compared to people who sleep seven or eight hours a night, people who sleep for five hours or less have a lower capacity of exercising and are more likely to have a higher body mass index. They are also at higher risk of developing diabetes, depression and daytime lethargy. Sleep deprivation increases appetite and compromises insulin sensitivity in the body.

Medical findings and other studies suggest that sleep disturbances and disorders initiate and progress the rate of manifestation of cardiovascular diseases and conditions, such as hypertension.