Turns out the Boogeyman isn't the only reason to be scared of the dark. Clocking in less than seven hours of sleep could be fast-tracking you on the road to high blood pressure, warns a recent, yet-to-be-peer-reviewed analysis presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session.

On top of that, researchers found that your quality of shut-eye may show a gender bias – with poor sleep affecting females' high blood pressure risk more than males'. In the words of the sassy Dr. Aayushi Sood from The Wright Center for Community Health, your sleep habits are “part of comprehensive preventive care”.

To give you some perspective, your risk of developing high blood pressure increases by an uninspiring 7% if you're sleeping less than seven hours and boosts by a frightening 11% for those running on less than five hours. It doesn't quite reach diabetes and smoking-level threat (that rockets you up by at least 20%), but still, worth noting.

The fun does not end here. Research is hinting that sleep and stress are the new power couple, influencing each other like guests who've overstayed their welcome on a Tuesday night. If stress is the third wheel in this relationship, merely paying attention to your sleep won't cut it. You will likely have to tackle both, warns Dr. Rafael Pelayo.

Dr. Sood chips in, making sure we understand that lest we sleep enough, our bodies are thrown under the stress bus, causing our blood pressure to skyrocket. Thanks, Sood.

Still feeling lucky, ladies? Women sleeping less than seven hours face a 7% higher risk of being in high blood pressure club compared to men. While the difference might not seem huge, it's statistically significant enough to make the alarm bells ring. More research is needed to see if this gamble will affect prevention or treatment methods. Pelayo agrees, saying it's not clear why the risk might be higher for women. "It could be that a lack of sleep affects women a little bit more for hypertension, but that's still not known," he posits.

Apparently, women need more sleep - about 11 minutes more, on average. Cheers to hormones and their party tricks, including insomnia, depression, and anxiety, all linked with poor sleep.

Tucked away under our blankets could be potential sleep disorders like insomnia or sleep apnea. The stereotypical image of a sleep apnea sufferer is an overweight male; however, mild sleep apnea can be apparent in women, manifesting as insomnia, contributing to poor sleep.

However, it's not all doom and gloom. Sleep is an adjustable risk factor, and you can commandeer it. All it needs is a little bit of your attention and the willingness to actually talk about it with your healthcare provider. As Pelayo puts it, "Sleep isn't just important for the brain - it's also allowing the whole body, including the heart, to take care of itself."