If you are at risk for developing high blood pressure, recent research suggests that aspirin can help – but only if you take it at night.
Although blood pressure tends to go down while you sleep, this is also the time when hormones and chemicals in the body are preparing for another period of daytime activity, according to lead study author Ramon C. Hermida of the University of Vigo in Spain.
It’s also the time when aspirin has the most beneficial effect, because it works by acting on those chemicals.
Aspirin taken in the morning only affects the body for four hours or so, Dr. Hermida said, and was ineffective at lowering blood pressure in patients with prehypertension.
In the study, researchers followed a group of 240 people at risk for high blood pressure over a period of three months. Some of the volunteers took aspirin when they got up, some took a placebo and others swallowed the aspirin at bedtime. Researchers noted their levels of physical activity, as well as monitoring their blood pressure on a regular basis.
“Aspirin Administered at Bedtime, But Not on Awakening, Has an Effect on Ambulatory Blood Pressure in Hypertensive Patients,” by Ramon C. Hermida, Diana E. Ayala, Carlos Calvo, Jose E. Lopez, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, vol. 46, issue 6.
