A recent medical study revealed that adolescents who sleep less than 7.7 hours a day face an increasing risk of high blood pressure, which may threaten their heart health in the future.
According to the study conducted by the behavioral sleep center at the Faculty of Medicine at the American Pennsylvania State University, adolescents who suffer from chronic insomnia besides lack of sleep are more likely to develop systolic high blood pressure that exceeds 140 millimeters of mercury at a rate of five times compared to others.
The researchers emphasized that high blood pressure at this age may lead to life -long health complications.
In this context, Dr. Julio Fernandez Mendoza, the main researcher and director of the behavioral sleep center at the university, explained that the relationship between lack of sleep and high blood pressure calls for more expanded studies, but the current evidence indicates the importance of sleep in maintaining heart health.
Brock Arajwal, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association, also stressed the need to pay attention to the problems of sleep in adolescents, considering that assessing the quality and duration of sleep may help in the early prevention of cardiovascular diseases, especially since sleep disturbances at this stage often continue with age.