(LifeWire) - As Americans cram ever more activities into already-busy lives, their average amount of sleep has plummeted by more than two hours each night during the past century. Perhaps unsurprisingly, teenagers are now experiencing the same ill effects from sleep deprivation that adults do -- including high blood pressure.
In the first such study of its kind, researchers reported in August 2008, in an article entitled "Sleep Quality and Elevated Blood Pressure in Adolescents," that teens who don't sleep deeply or long enough are far more prone to elevated blood pressure, putting them at risk for future heart disease.
The study of 238 teenagers (13 to 16 years old) found that 11% slept less than 6.5 hours per night and 26% endured frequent awakenings. One in seven teens studied had either borderline high blood pressure or hypertension, which is defined as readings of greater than 140 mm/Hg over 90 mm/Hg. Those with less than 85% "sleep efficiency" had nearly three times the risk of high blood pressure.
The results mimic established data on adults studied over the past several years, and because higher blood pressure in childhood is linked to the same condition in adulthood, a lack of restorative sleep can set up youngsters for lifelong cardiac problems. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, which, in some form, affects more than 80 million Americans and can cause heart attacks, heart failure and strokes.
Scientists believe that higher blood pressure results from less sleep because the normal blood pressure dip experienced during restorative sleep does not have as great an opportunity to take hold. Sleep deprivation's effects are also system-wide, causing the kidneys to retain more sodium and effecting structural changes in organs that participate in blood pressure regulation, including the kidneys, heart and blood vessels.
Americans slept an average of 9 hours per night in 1910, and that amount fell to 7.5 hours by 1975 and to 6.8 hours by 2005. Roughly 30% of all adults over age 20 have high blood pressure, along with 2 to 5% of children.
Read more about high blood pressure.
Sources:
Egan, Brent M.. "Sleep and Hypertension: Burning the Candle at Both Ends Really Is Hazardous to Your Health." Hypertension 47(2006): 816-17. 16 Oct. 2008 <http://hyper.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/hypertensionaha;47/5/816>.
Gangswisch, James E., Steven B. Heymsfield, Bernadette Boden-Albala, Ruud M. Buijs, Felix Kreier, Thomas G. Pickering, Andrew G. Rundle, Gary K. Zammit, and Dolores Malaspina. "Short Sleep Duration as a Risk Factor for Hypertension." Hypertension 47(2006): 833-39. 16 Oct. 2008 <http://hyper.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/47/5/833>.
Hansen, Matthew L., Paul W. Gunn, and David C. Kaelber. "Underdiagnosis of Hypertension in Children and Adolescents." Journal of the American Medical Association 298:8(2007): 874-79. 16 Oct. 2008 <http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/298/8/874>.
"Hypertension." cdc.gov. 23 Sep. 2008. National Center for Health Statistics. 16 Oct. 2008. <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/hyprtens.htm>.
Javaheri, Sogol, Amy Storfer-Isser, Carol L. Rosen, and Susan Redline. "Sleep Quality and Elevated Blood Pressure in Adolescents." Circulation 118 (2008): 1034-40. 16 Oct. 2008 <http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/short/118/10/1034>.
