Background Recent guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommend lifestyle advice and several lifestyle alterations as a treatment option for patients with hypertension (NICE 2019). However, the guidelines do not mention improving sleep quality as a potential intervention, despite research suggesting a link between low sleep duration and the risk of hypertension.

Aim To evaluate sleep quality in patients with hypertension.

Method The study recruited 104 participants with hypertension. The researchers obtained demographic information from the participants and used the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index to ascertain each participant’s quality of sleep.

Results The mean sleep quality score of patients with grade I and II hypertension was found to be ‘poor’. The mean sleep quality scores of patients who slept less than five hours a day were lower than those who slept more than five hours per day. There was no statistically significant association between any demographic characteristics and the mean sleep quality scores.

Conclusion Discussion of sleep quality should form part of the overall lifestyle advice for patients when attempting to manage hypertension, and nurses should enquire about sleep quality in this group of patients.