For parents with a sleepy teenager, less variable sleep patterns could be a sign of a healthier future for their child.
Teens who had better sleep habits at age 15 were found to have improved heart health seven years later, researchers at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine said on Monday. The healthy sleep habits include falling asleep and waking up earlier, spending a lower percentage of time in bed awake, and having lower variability in total sleep time and sleep onset. Average total sleep time did not predict future cardiovascular health.
In teens, cardiac incidents are rare, but they can occur. Approximately 2,000 young and seemingly healthy people under the age of 25 die each year of sudden cardiac arrest, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heart attacks in people under 40 have been increasing over the past decade, the Cleveland Clinic notes.
“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,” Dr. Gina Marie Mathew, a senior post-doctoral associate in public health at Stony Brook Renaissance School of Medicine, explained in a statement.
“It was unexpected, however, that with and without adjustment for potentially confounding factors, total sleep time during adolescence was not a significant predictor of cardiovascular health during young adulthood,” she added. “This single null finding, of course, does not indicate that total sleep time is unimportant. Rather, when paired with other studies, these findings underscore the complexity of sleep health and the need to consider multiple sleep dimensions as potential targets for promoting and maintaining cardiovascular health.”
Mathew was the lead data analyst and author of the National Institutes of Health-backed research that was presented on Sunday at the SLEEP 2025 annual meeting.
To reach these conclusions, the researchers analyzed data from Princeton and Columbia University’s Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study: the longest-running and only contemporary U.S. birth cohort study of young adults based on a national sample. Their data included 307 adults, the majority of whom were girls.
At age 15, participants wore a device on their wrist for a week to measure sleep variables. At age 22, their cardiovascular health was assessed using their diet, physical activity, exposure to nicotine, body mass index, and measurements of fats in the blood, blood sugar, and blood pressure. They were scored based on these factors using the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8.
Teens between the ages of 13 and 18 years old should sleep eight to 10 hours regularly to promote optimal health, the academy said. Getting the recommended number of hours is associated with improved attention, behavior, memory, mental and physical health, and other positive outcomes.
However, Mathew pointed out that the results highlight the need for a more comprehensive approach to address the relationship between adolescent sleep health and cardiovascular health.
“Future research and recommendations should emphasize the importance of multiple dimensions of sleep health, including earlier sleep timing, higher sleep maintenance efficiency, and lower sleep variability as protective factors for long-term heart health,” she said.
