Sleepless Nights Can Hike Teens' Blood Pressure
August 29, 2008
WASHINGTON - Poor sleep habits can do more than annoy parents and make teenagers drowsy in school — they can lead to high blood pressure, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
Teens who slept fewer than 6 1/2 hours a night had more than twice the risk of high blood pressure and those with troubled sleep had more than triple the risk, the team at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio found.
Writing in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, the researchers found the pattern held even when adjusted for sex, weight and socioeconomic status.
"Our study underscores the high rate of poor quality and inadequate sleep in adolescence coupled with the risk of developing high blood pressure and other health problems," said Dr. Susan Redline, the pediatrician who led the study.
"We also found that a low sleep efficiency may be more consistently associated with pre-hypertension than a shorter sleep period."
Part of the problem is the technological invasion of the bedroom with computers, cell phones and music," Redline said.
"There are teens who text message or listen to music all night, compounded by early school hours. Adolescents need nine hours of sleep. Parents should optimize sleep quality for their family with regular sleep and wake times and bedrooms should be kept quiet, dark and conducive to sleep."
