A recent study from UTHealth Houston found that teenagers who get the recommended nine to 11 hours of sleep each night are much less likely to develop hypertension.
Published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, this research highlighted a 37% reduction in the risk of high blood pressure among adolescents who maintain healthy sleep habits, emphasizing the critical nature of sufficient sleep. The study also looked into how environmental factors might affect sleeping patterns.
“Sleep disruption can alter how the body responds to stress, raising levels of hormones like cortisol, which can consequently lead to increased blood pressure,” explained Augusto César Ferreira De Moraes, PhD, the lead author and an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health.
Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, which tracks various aspects of teen development, De Moraes and his team examined information from 3,320 teens in the U.S. to study the occurrences of high blood pressure linked to their nighttime sleep cycles. They found that incidents of hypertension rose from 1.7% to 2.9% during two periods, 2018-2020 and 2020-2022. This data included blood pressure readings and Fitbit records, which monitored both total sleeping time and REM sleep. The research analyzed several factors, such as sleep patterns tracked by Fitbit, blood pressure, and neighborhood noise using geocode data, providing a comprehensive overview of environmental noise exposure for each participant.
While researchers looked into the effects of community noise, they did not find a significant link to high blood pressure. This highlights the need for more extended studies to explore how sleep health and hypertension are related, particularly concerning aspects like socioeconomic status, stress, and genetics.
The findings stress the need for better sleep practices and adherence to recommended guidelines. “Establishing regular sleep routines, reducing screen time before bed, and fostering a peaceful sleeping atmosphere can enhance sleep quality,” said Martin Ma, MPH, the study’s second author and a recent graduate. “Even though neighborhood noise didn’t show a direct connection to hypertension in this research, ensuring a quiet sleeping environment is still vital for overall health.”
Other contributors to the study included Marcus Vinicius Nascimento-Ferreira, PhD, from Universidade Federal do Tocantins; and School of Public Health faculty members Ethan Hunt, PhD, an assistant professor in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences; and Deanna Hoelscher, PhD, RDN, LD, regional dean in Austin and a professor in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences.