A preliminary study, presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific sessions in 2025, showed that teenagers who do not get enough sleep may be at a higher risk for developing high blood pressure.
اضافة اعلان
The study, conducted on over 400 teenagers, revealed that those who slept less than 7.7 hours in a lab were three times more likely to develop high blood pressure compared to their peers who got adequate sleep.
It was also found that teenagers who suffered from insomnia and slept less than 7.7 hours were five times more likely to develop stage 2 hypertension.
The study was conducted on a diverse group (54% male, 46% female) with an average age of 16.5 years from three different regions in Pennsylvania, USA. The researchers gathered data through self-reported questionnaires, lab-based sleep studies, and blood pressure measurements.
Sleep Deprivation and Blood Pressure
The results showed that teenagers who reported insomnia and slept less than 7.7 hours in the lab were five times more likely to develop clinical hypertension compared to those who got sufficient sleep. Additionally, teenagers who slept less than 7.7 hours without reporting insomnia were three times more likely to develop high blood pressure.
On the other hand, teenagers who reported insomnia but got sufficient sleep (7.7 hours or more) did not show an increased risk of high blood pressure or stage 2 hypertension. These findings suggest that the combination of insomnia and insufficient sleep may lead to more severe health conditions compared to insufficient sleep alone.
Sleep and Heart Disease
The lead author of the study, Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, stated, "Sleep quality is important for heart health, and we shouldn’t wait until adulthood to address this issue."
He added that objectively monitoring sleep duration can help identify teenagers who suffer from more severe forms of insomnia and are at higher risk for heart disease.
The researchers emphasized the importance of improving sleep habits among teenagers to prevent heart diseases in the future. Recommendations include establishing a calming routine, reducing electronic device use before bed, avoiding heavy meals and caffeine in the evening, and engaging in daily physical activity.
Major Risk Factor
According to the 2025 update from the American Heart Association, inadequate sleep is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, which cause more deaths than all types of cancer and chronic respiratory diseases combined.
Teenagers need between 8 to 10 hours of sleep each night, but on average, students only get 6.5 hours of sleep per night.
Co-author of the study, Brooke Agarwal, an assistant professor of medical sciences at Columbia University, said that preventing heart disease begins with adopting a healthy lifestyle in childhood and adolescence. Ensuring adequate sleep and establishing healthy sleep patterns during adolescence can carry over into adulthood.
She explained that sleep problems during the teenage years "tend to persist over time and may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases later in life."
Researchers also pointed out that one limitation of the study was that it was conducted in a sleep lab, which may have affected the quality of the participants' sleep compared to sleeping at home. Additionally, the data was collected before the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving room to question whether insomnia and anxiety rates among teenagers have increased since then.
The study stressed the importance of listening to teenagers' complaints about sleep disturbances and objectively assessing their sleep quality to prevent early onset of heart problems. (Agencies)
