What is the recommended bedtime for teenagers to protect heart health?

Research suggests that adolescents benefit greatly from parents setting and enforcing earlier bedtimes, ideally by 10 pm, to improve sleep and subsequent cardiovascular health.

How does late-night social media use affect teen sleep and heart health?

Late-night scrolling on social media is identified as a factor that worsens sleep loss in adolescents, potentially impacting their cardiovascular health.

What are the risks for adolescents who stay up past midnight?

Adolescents who go to bed after midnight are found to be more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with heart disease in their 40s.

Home / Health / Teen Bedtime: Early Sleep Shields Hearts

Teen Bedtime: Early Sleep Shields Hearts

1 Feb

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Summary

Adolescents sleeping past midnight face double heart disease risk.
Consistent early bedtimes may prevent adult cardiac ill-health.
Social media use exacerbates sleep loss in teenagers.

Teen Bedtime: Early Sleep Shields Hearts

Setting a strict 10 pm bedtime for adolescents may offer significant protection against developing heart disease in adulthood, according to new research. Adolescents who stay up past midnight face more than double the risk of being diagnosed with heart disease in their 40s compared to peers with earlier bedtimes.

This finding supports previous research linking early, parent-set bedtimes to better cardiac health later in life. The benefits are thought to stem from preventing stress hormone spikes associated with irregular sleep patterns.

Researchers from the University of South Carolina tracked over 4,000 individuals from their teenage years through adulthood. They noted that while teens' biological clocks shift, making them tired later, late-night social media use further contributes to insufficient sleep.