Do you have trouble sleeping at night? According to a new study to be presented at the Sleep 2012 Conference in Boston, Massachusetts, insomnia may not be the only problem you have to contend with. Researchers from the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit have found that people who have a hard time falling asleep and who wake up in the middle of the night are more prone to hypertension than those who sleep normally.

Using an Internet-based questionnaire, they compared 5,314 subjects who had insomnia with people who had normal sleeping habits. Based on the report, hypertension was more common in people who had trouble falling asleep than in other subjects.

According to Christopher Drake, lead author and associate scientist at the Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Disorders and Research Center, "The cause of hypertension in insomniacs is due to the number of times the individual wakes during the night as well as their sleep latency--the length of time it takes to accomplish the transition from full wakefulness to sleep."

If you have trouble falling or staying asleep, go see a doctor before your condition gets any worse. Not doing anything may put you at a greater risk of developing other health problems.

(Photo by rachel a. k. via Flickr Creative Commons)