People who sleep on their stomachs have lower night time blood pressure

	People who sleep on their stomachs have lower night time blood pressure than people who sleep in other positions, according to research from Japan.

Yasuharu Tabara of Ehime University School of Medicine in Ehime, Japan, noted that high blood pressure during the night can increase the risk of a night time heart attack, reports Patient Health International.

In the research, more than 270 healthy men ages 19 to 64 who were not taking blood pressure medication wore automatic blood pressure cuffs. They were first asked to lie down face up and later were told to turn over on their stomachs.

In almost all the men, their overall blood pressure dropped significantly when they were face down. And 25 of the men experienced an even more dramatic decrease of more than 15 points when they just turned over onto their stomachs.

In addition, systolic blood pressure, which is the force blood exerts on the artery walls when the heart beats, fell by as much as 15 mmHg in response to moving into the prone position, compared with the supine position, reports Patient Health International.

"These findings indicate that sleeping position could influence blood pressure," the researchers said. "Marked change in blood pressure during sleep by turning the position may need to be further studied as a possible cause of the cardiovascular events during the sleep."