{
  "id": 9615020,
  "title": "What your overnight blood pressure can reveal about your health",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/what-your-overnight-blood-pressure-can-reveal-about-your-health",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-09-24T19:20:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Medical Xpress",
    "slug": "medical-xpress",
    "url": "https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-overnight-blood-pressure-reveal-health.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Research from the University of Waterloo suggests that a slight misalignment in the timing of kidney salt processing could play a role in why some people's blood pressure remains high during the night. This condition, known as non-dipping blood pressure, is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and premature death. The study, published in PLOS ONE, indicates that while most people's blood pressure drops by 10-20% during sleep, allowing the heart and blood vessels to recover, individuals who do not experience this nighttime dip face higher health risks. Dr. Anita Layton, a professor of applied mathematics at Waterloo, explains that various systems controlling blood pressure operate on their own 24-hour cycles, including kidneys, blood vessels, nervous system, and hormones. What the researchers found is that the synchronization of these daily rhythms may be as crucial as the rhythms themselves. The study used a computer model to simulate the effects of timing differences between these systems on blood pressure during sleep. They discovered that even a small shift in the timing of the kidney's sodium processing could disrupt the normal nighttime drop in blood pressure, especially in individuals with higher salt intake or those more sensitive to salt. This finding offers new insights into the condition and suggests potential avenues for further clinical research to test whether this timing mismatch contributes to non-dipping blood pressure in people.",
  "summary": "Most people's blood pressure falls by 10% to 20% while they sleep, giving the heart and blood vessels a chance to recover. But for some people, that nighttime dip never happens. Known as \"non-dippers,\" these individuals face a higher risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and premature death.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}