Heart checks in college-aged students link poor sleep to cardiovascular risk

AbstractObjective: To describe the relationships between the cardiovascular health, lifestyle behaviors, and lifestyle beliefs among college-aged students.Participants: Seven hundred and twenty-nine college-aged students participated between October 2016 and April 2017.Methods: Heart checks, consisting of a cross-sectional survey and biometric screening, were conducted on a large Midwestern university campus.Results: A small proportion of students (24.5%) engaged in the recommended 150+ minutes of physical activity per week and 7.9% consumed 5+ servings of fruit/vegetables daily. Half (49.6%) slept 7 hours or less per night. Biometric screenings found that 26.4% of the students had high stress, 31.9% were overweight or obese, and 17.3% had prehypertension or hypertension. Less sleep was significantly associated with higher risks of being stressed, being overweight/obese, and having elevated blood pressure.Conclusions: Early detection, treatment, and education is critical to identify individuals at risk fo...