A recent study led by researchers at Stony Brook University’s Program in Public Health has found that sleep habits during adolescence can predict cardiovascular health in young adulthood. The research, published in JACC: Advances, followed 307 participants from a diverse U.S. population, tracking their health data from birth into adulthood.
The study focused on objective sleep data collected when the participants were 15 years old and analyzed detailed biomarkers of cardiovascular health (CVH) at age 22. A composite CVH score was created for each participant based on American Heart Association (AHA) criteria, which included factors such as diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, body mass index, blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure. Researchers adjusted their findings for lifestyle and sociodemographic factors as well as confounders related to adolescent CVH.
Sleep patterns were measured using wrist-worn accelerometers through actigraphy—a non-invasive method to objectively assess sleep and wake movements.
“Our study strengthens the evidence that healthy sleep patterns during adolescence have lasting physical health benefits,” said Lauren Hale, 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.”
The results showed that earlier sleep timing (the time adolescents fell asleep and woke up), higher sleep maintenance efficiency (a marker of better sleep quality), and lower variability in sleep patterns at age 15 were associated with better cardiovascular health scores at age 22. Notably, the duration of adolescent sleep did not predict young adult cardiovascular health.
“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, 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 emphasizes.
The authors noted that their work is among the first to examine whether several aspects of actigraphic sleep health during adolescence can predict young adult CVH. They recommend further research to determine if shifting adolescent sleep timing earlier and reducing variability can improve long-term heart health outcomes.
This research received support from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.