Study: Children and Teenagers Who Get More Sleep Have Lower Blood Pressure

While high blood pressure is commonly thought of as a disease of older adults, an estimated 4% of children and adolescents in the U.S. have hypertension, and cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in the U.S. A new study in the July 2024 Pediatrics (published online June 18), “Sleep Duration and Blood Pressure in Youth Referred for Elevated Blood Pressure Evaluation,” finds that hypertension in children and teenagers can be related to how well they sleep at night. Researchers at a pediatric clinic for elevated blood pressure fitted 539 patients, ages 4 to 22, with a heartrate cuff to measure blood pressure every 20 minutes while awake and every 30 minutes while asleep. Sleep duration averaged 9.1 hours per night, and the study found that longer sleep duration was associated with better daytime blood pressure. Every extra hour of sleep duration was associated with reduced odds of hypertension. Later sleep onset—staying up late—was associated with worse daytime blood pressure. These associations were consistent regardless of sex, age, BMI category, and weekday status. Authors concluded these findings show a robust link between getting good sleep and better blood pressure, which could help offer new solutions to children and teenagers with high blood pressure.

###

The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.