Association between short sleeping hours and overweight in adolescents: results from a US Suburban High School survey

Insufficient sleep may lead to adverse health effects, influencing body weight. This study quantified the prevalence of short sleep and the association between sleep duration and overweight in a sample of suburban students. Cross-sectional study was conducted in 2004, involving 529 students from Bay High School, Bay Village, OH, USA, using self-administered questionnaires assessing lifestyle and sleep behaviors. Students with a body mass index Z Score >85th percentile for sex and age were deemed overweight. Ninety percent of students reported average sleep time less than 8 h on school nights, with 19% reported less than 6 h of sleep per night. Twenty percent of the sample were overweight. Overweight was significantly associated with the male gender, increased caffeine consumption, and short sleep duration. Compared with students sleeping >8 h, the age and gender-adjusted odds ratio of overweight was 8.53 (95% CI: 2.26, 32.14) for those with <5 h sleep (P = 0.0036); 2.79 (1.03, 7.55) for those with 5-6 h sleep; 2.81 (1.14, 6.91) for those with 6-7 h sleep; and 1.29 (0.52, 3.26) for those with 7-8 h sleep. Short sleep duration was common and associated with overweight with evidence of a "dose-response" relationship. These results confirm a high prevalence of short sleep among suburban high school students and provide additional support suggesting significant association between short sleeping hours and overweight.