Heart beat: Another reason to hate Mondays
Heart beat
Another reason to hate Mondays
Blood pressure rises and falls over the course of a day. In the average person, it is lowest just before waking up, surges upon getting out of bed, and peaks during the middle of the day. A new study suggests that a weekly cycle may accompany this daily one.
Japanese researchers asked 135 middle-aged men and women to wear a cuff that automatically measured and recorded blood pressure every 30 minutes for an entire week, from Thursday morning to Wednesday night. Average daily blood pressure fell from Thursday to Sunday, zoomed up on Monday, and then began to fall again. The morning surge in blood pressure was also highest on Monday mornings (see figure below). The report appeared in the December 2004 American Journal of Hypertension.
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