A recent study led by Stony Brook University researchers has found that adolescents who maintain earlier, more efficient, and regular sleep patterns are more likely to have better cardiovascular health as young adults. The research, which followed 307 individuals from diverse backgrounds across the United States from birth into adulthood, was published in JACC: Advances.
The team collected objective sleep data at age 15 and assessed various biomarkers of cardiovascular health at age 22. These were combined to create a composite cardiovascular health (CVH) score based on American Heart Association (AHA) criteria. The AHA’s guidelines include factors such as diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, body mass index, blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure.
“Our study strengthens the evidence that healthy sleep patterns during adolescence have lasting physical health benefits,” said Lauren Hale, PhD, senior author and core faculty member in the Program in Public Health at Stony Brook University. “Healthy teen sleep can be supported through a mix of individual behaviors such as consistent bedtimes and removing screens from the bedroom, and broader structural changes like a later high school start time as one example.”
Sleep data for participants were gathered using wrist-worn accelerometers to measure actigraphy—a method that objectively tracks movement related to sleep and wake cycles.
“We were surprised that adolescent sleep duration did not predict young adult cardiovascular health in the current study. Instead, other dimensions of sleep health did,” said Gina Marie Mathew, PhD, lead author and senior post-doctoral associate in the Program in Public Health. “Discovering these associations earlier in life means early intervention to improve sleep in adolescents could be protective of future cardiovascular health,” she added.
Specifically, the study found that those with earlier bedtimes and wake times, higher efficiency during sleep (indicating better quality), and less variability or irregularity at age 15 achieved higher CVH scores at age 22.
The authors noted that this research is among the first to examine whether multiple aspects of actigraphic sleep health during adolescence can predict young adult cardiovascular outcomes. They suggested further studies should investigate if adjusting sleep timing earlier and reducing variability could improve long-term heart health.
Funding for this research came partly from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).