A new study has shown that taking more than 14 minutes to nod off at night could be detrimental to your health (GREAT news if you find it impossible to switch off for sleep). According to new research, experts believe that a bad sleeping pattern is linked to high blood pressure. 210 people, who described themselves as "chronic insomniacs" and 96 "normal sleepers" took part in this study, those who participated had an average age of 40 and 60% were women. The study required the participants to sleep overnight in a sleep laboratory where they were instructed to take four 20-minute naps at two-hour intervals. The results showed that half took 14 minutes or less to fall asleep and half took more than 14 minutes. This looks very familiar to us... Researchers described those who took longer than 14 minutes to sleep as "hyper aroused". Dr Xiangdong Tang, a professor of sleep medicine at West China Hospital at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, said: "We observed a strong correlation between the degree of physiological hyperarousal (sleep difficulty) and hypertension (high blood pressure)". Others factors including obesity, sleep apnea, diabetes, smoking, alcohol and caffeine use were taken into account. Co-author Professor Alexandros Vgontzas, of Pennsylvania State University in the US, said: "In other words, those insomniacs who were hyperalert during the day and unable to relax and fall asleep during the multiple latency sleep test had the higher risk of hypertension". Although insomnia is often referred to as a night-time disorder, some studies have compared it to a state of 24-hour hyperarousal. Professor Vgontzas said"although insomniacs complain of fatigue and tiredness during the day, their problem is that they cannot relax and that they are hyper". This study is published in the American Heart Association Journal Hypertension. H/T - Metro UK