Skip to main content

Good Night's Sleep Wards Off High Blood Pressure in Teens

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Nov 13, 2024.

By Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 13, 2024 -- High blood pressure is a rare health issue among teens, but U.S. case numbers are creeping upwards.

Now, research published recently in the Journal of the American Heart Association, shows that healthy sleep can help keep hypertension at bay in the young.

That's probably because "disrupted sleep can lead to changes in the body's stress response, including elevated levels of stress hormones like cortisol, which in turn can increase blood pressure," explained study first author Augusto César Ferreira De Moraes. He's an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, in Houston.

As the researchers noted, high blood pressure can affect a teenager: Data shows that about 1.7% of U.S. adolescents (averaging about 14 years of age) were diagnosed with hypertension in 2018-2020, and that number rose to 2.9% by 2020-2022.

The new study looked at the same dataset, which included more than 3,300 kids who wore Fitbits that tracked their daytime activity and nighttime total sleep time, as well as their REM (deep) sleep.

The study found that adolescents who got the age-recommended 9 to 11 hours of sleep nightly had a 37% lowered odds for high blood pressure "incidents," compared to those who didn't.

Certain factors, such as the noise level of the neighborhood the teen lived in, didn't impact the results, De Moraes and colleagues noted.

There are ways to encourage better sleep during the teenage years, said study co-author and graduate student Martin Ma.

"Consistent sleep schedules, minimizing screen time before bed, and creating a calm, quiet sleep environment can all contribute to better sleep quality," he said in a university news release. And, "although environmental noise didn't directly affect hypertension in this study, maintaining a quiet and restful sleep environment is still important for overall well-being."

Sources

  • University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Nov. 12, 2024

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted November 2024

Read this next

Shedding Pounds in Middle Age Could Add Years to Your Life, Study Finds

WEDNESDAY, May 28, 2025 — Losing just 6.5% of body weight in midlife may lower later risk of disease and premature death, new research shows. Researchers found that people...

Preschool BMI Can Predict Childhood Obesity Risk

WEDNESDAY, May 28, 2025 — Preschoolers who don’t naturally lose weight are more likely to develop full-fledged childhood obesity by age 9, a new study says. Most kids...

Weight-Loss Drugs May Lower Risk Of Obesity-Related Cancers

WEDNESDAY, May 28, 2025 — Popular GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound can help reduce a woman’s risk for as many as 14 cancers associated with obesity, a...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.