Aspirin has long been attributed all sorts of miraculous properties. Ever since the little pills containing acetylsalicylic acid (see if you can say that three times in a row without blinking) entered our lives more than a century ago, their popularity rose and fell depending on the latest medical research that pointed out their strengths, weaknesses and - a rather short while ago as compared to their long existence - their hidden benefits. Although aspirin was initially widely used to relieve pain (analgesic), fever (antipyretic) and inflammation, its most spectacular side-effect has only recently been given a clean bill of health - that is, expert approval and endorsement. I'm talking here about its action as anti-clotting agent that cuts back on the risk of clotting diseases such as strokes.

People with high or rising blood pressure are advised to consider taking a small preventive dose of aspirin every day. However, they should be careful: a recent study proves that while aspirin may indeed help high-risk patients avoid getting a heart attack or a stroke, the medicine works only if it is taken at night. Aspirin has been proved to lower blood pressure to normal for up to 24 hours at a time, but it was previously thought that the little miracle pill could be ingested irrespective of time of day. Spanish researchers claim that aspirin can only bestow its beneficial properties if it's ingested during the night. Of course, any patient seeking to embark on a preventive aspirin treatment must first obtain clearance from his or her doctor.

"Previously it was thought you could take it [aspirin] any time", stated Professor Ramon Hermida from the University of Vigo, who led the aforementioned study. "But we have shown that any other time apart from before going to bed it has no effect. These results show us that we cannot underestimate the impact of the body's circadian rhythms". Professor Hermida specialized in developing treatments linked to the body's specific internal clock and believes that aspirin may slow down the production of hormones and other substances in the human body known to cause clotting - many of which are produced while the body is at rest, that is, during the night. Intense research is being conducted into this matter, and we're bound to receive more updates in the near future.