Where you live and what you're exposed to may shape how you sleep and whether you develop hypertension. A new critical review co-authored by GCDTR’s Dayna J., published in Current Hypertension Reviews, examines how seven environmental exposures - noise, light at night, air pollution, temperature, metals, greenspace, and neighborhood conditions - affect sleep and blood pressure.
Key findings:
- Air pollution (especially ozone), light during sleep, higher ambient temperatures, and neighborhood disadvantage were consistently associated with poor sleep, while air pollution, metals, and neighborhood disadvantage showed consistent links to hypertension
- Minoritized and low-socioeconomic status populations face disproportionately greater environmental exposures and higher risk of both poor sleep and hypertension
- Pregnancy emerged as a window of vulnerability, with elevated temperature, humidity, and metal exposure tied to hypertensive disorders The authors call for future research using personal sensors to measure bedroom microenvironments and longitudinal designs to establish causal pathways.
Kushagra Vashist, MPH, Jelaina Shipman-Lacewell, PhD, MA, Shenita Peterson, Kiara P.
