A small but growing percentage of adolescents have high blood pressure New research shows that getting regular, restful sleep cuts the odds a teen will develop hypertension There are ways parents can help a teenagers get recommended levels of sleep WEDNESDAY, Nov. 13, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- High blood pressure is a rare health issue among teens, but U.S.
case numbers are creeping upwards. Now, research published recently in the shows that can help keep hypertension at bay in the young. That's probably because "disrupted sleep can lead to changes in the body's stress response, including elevated levels of stress hormones like cortisol, which in turn can increase blood pressure," explained study first author .
He's an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, in Houston. As the researchers noted, high blood pressure affect a teenager: Data shows that about 1.7% of U.
S. adolescents (averaging about 14 years of age) were diagnosed with hypertension in 2018-2020, and that number rose to 2.9% by 2020-2022.
The new study looked at the same dataset, which included more than 3,300 kids who wore Fitbits that tracked their daytime activity and nighttime total sleep time, as well as their REM (deep) sleep. The study found that adolescents who got the age-recommended 9 to 11 hours of sleep nightly had a 37% lowered odds for high blood pressure "incidents," compared to those who didn't. Certain factors, such as the noise level of the neighborho.
