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UW study: Sleep apnea called ‘ticking time bomb’

Sleepers with periods of interrupted breathing during sleep were more likely to lose the expected drop in nighttime blood pressure, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health reported in the June issue of the journal Sleep.

That is a cause for concern because the nighttime drop may help protect the body against bad cardiovascular events. And blood pressure that fails to drop at night is associated with hypertension, heart attacks and stroke.