To investigate nonlinear and linear components of heart rate variability (HRV) in essential hypertension (EHT), we analyzed HRV by chaos and spectral analyses in patients with EHT (n = 18) and normotensives (n = 10) during head-up tilting. We used the correlation dimension (CD) and Lyapunov exponents as the parameters of chaos. The CD, an index of complexity, was lower at rest in EHT group than in normotensives, and did not change in EHT group in response to head-up tilting, but decreased in normotensives. Head-up tilting did not change the Lyapunov exponents, an index of sensitive dependence on initial condition, a hallmark of chaos, in both groups. In the spectral analysis, the normalized high-frequency component (%HF) was decreased in EHT group at rest, and head-up tilting increased the low- to high-frequency ratio (L/H) and reduced the %HF in both groups. The CD and Lyapunov exponents at rest were correlated with the %HF and L/H. These results suggest that chaos analysis can assess the different aspect of HRV from spectral analysis and that nonlinear components of HRV may be associated with hypertension through an impaired dynamic regulation of HRV.