Teens with regular sleep patterns show better heart health seven years later, study finds

Teenagers who stick to consistent sleep schedules and maintain quality sleep habits are more likely to show better cardiovascular health in early adulthood, new research has found.

The study followed 15-year-olds who went to bed and woke up earlier, spent less time lying awake in bed, and had less variability in their sleep routines. By age 22, these teens demonstrated stronger heart health markers—regardless of the total number of hours slept.

Researchers from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine analysed data from 307 young people—most of them girls—who wore wrist monitors for a week at age 15 to track sleep variables.

Seven years later, their heart health was assessed using factors such as diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, body mass index, cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure.

The team used the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 criteria to evaluate cardiovascular health.

The findings revealed that the timing, efficiency, and consistency of adolescent sleep were more predictive of future heart health than total sleep duration.

Dr Gina Marie Mathew is senior postdoctoral associate in public health at Stony Brook Renaissance School of Medicine and the study’s lead data analyst.

She said: “Given the importance of sleep health for physical health and well-being in the short term, we were not surprised to see a lasting association between adolescent sleep timing, sleep maintenance efficiency, and sleep variability with cardiovascular health in young adulthood.

“It was unexpected, however, that even after adjusting for potential confounding factors, total sleep time during adolescence was not a significant predictor of cardiovascular health in young adulthood.

“This doesn’t mean total sleep time is unimportant—but it does point to the complexity of sleep health and the need to examine multiple dimensions when promoting cardiovascular health.”

While cardiac events are rare in teenagers, around 2,000 people under 25 die from sudden cardiac arrest each year in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Cleveland Clinic also reports a rise in heart attacks in people under 40 over the past decade.

The researchers used data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a nationally representative, long-running US birth cohort study led by Princeton and Columbia universities.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that teens aged 13 to 18 get eight to ten hours of sleep each night.

Regular, sufficient sleep is linked to better memory, behaviour, attention, and overall physical and mental health.

Dr Mathew said the results emphasise the need to view sleep health as multi-dimensional.

She said: “Future research and recommendations should highlight the importance of multiple sleep dimensions—including earlier sleep timing, higher sleep maintenance efficiency, and lower sleep variability—as protective factors for long-term heart health.”