Antihypertensive drugs work better in the evening

Lisa Vogel studied departmental journalism with a focus on medicine and biosciences at Ansbach University and deepened her journalistic knowledge in the master's degree in multimedia information and communication. This was followed by a traineeship in the editorial team. Since September 2020 she has been writing as a freelance journalist for

More posts by Lisa Vogel All content is checked by medical journalists.

When is the right time to take high blood pressure medication? Those who swallow their pills in the evening benefit in particular: consequential damage such as heart attacks and strokes then occur less frequently.

The time of ingestion influences the effect

In a study with more than 19,000 high blood pressure patients, Prof. Ramón Hermida from the Spanish University of Vigo and his team tested the time of day that antihypertensive drugs work best. Your assumption: The time of ingestion could affect the risk of cardiovascular diseases, but also strokes.

To investigate this, they divided the patients into two groups. One group took the medication in the morning, the other swallowed the pills in the evening before bed. Each participant had to take a long-term blood pressure measurement at least once a year.

The risk of illness drops significantly

After more than six years it became clear that those who took the medication in the evening decreased the risk of dying from the consequences of vascular diseases by 66 percent. The risk of dying from a heart attack was 44 percent lower in the "bed treats" group than in the morning swallowers. Strokes (-49 percent) and heart defects (-42 percent) were also less common.

"The study shows: Patients who always take antihypertensive agents in the evening have more stable blood pressure - and a significantly reduced risk of heart and circulatory diseases," says study director Hermida. And there is also a plausible explanation for this.

The heart and circulation come to rest at night

In healthy people, blood pressure drops by ten to 15 percent at night. This is important so that the heart and blood vessels can recover from daily pressure. In many patients with high blood pressure, however, this effect does not occur. Doctors then speak of so-called "non-dippers". You are at a higher risk of complications such as a stroke.

The study participants who took their medication in the evening accordingly benefited from lower blood pressure at night. In addition, it also had a positive effect on the blood pressure values ​​of the following day, the long-term measurements showed. The authors of the study suspect that this could be the cause of the lower risk of disease.

Do not change the time of intake without authorization!

One weakness of the study is that participants did not have to indicate which medications they were taking. It is therefore unclear whether the results apply to all drugs.

Simply changing the time at which you take your medication is not recommended, despite the results of the study. Because some high blood pressure patients have a significant drop in blood pressure at night despite elevated values ​​during the day. The changeover could harm you under certain circumstances. You should definitely discuss any changes with your doctor beforehand.

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