When I read this headline…

Study: Timing of Pills Might Matter

…my first thought was, “Well, isn’t that obvious? Why else do nurses rush to get all their medications given by the correct administration time?” But then I realized it’s not about being “on time,” rather it’s about the “timing” of the meds.

The article is actually quite interesting. It’s all about how people who suffer from hypertension tend to be dippers (their BP naturally dips down at night) or non-dippers (their BP stays high throughout the night.) According to the article, the non-dippers tend to develop more serious heart and kidney disease. As a result of this insight, researchers at Johns Hopkins are now planning a more broad study to find out if the simple act of taking your blood pressure pill at night time will result in a decrease heart and kidney disease.

So simple it just might work.

One thing it lead me to wonder: How can you tell if you are a dipper or a non-dipper? Would this require invasive arterial monitoring while you sleep or could a person simply wake up in the middle of the night and randomly check their blood pressure with a cuff?