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Sleep habits and height at ages 5 to 11
M C Gulliford1, C E Price, R J Rona
1Department of Community Medicine, United Medical School, Guys Hospital, London.
Insights
Shorter sleep duration in children showed a weak link to shorter stature. However, overall sleep length variation is unlikely to significantly impact a child's growth.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Sleep Medicine
- Human Growth and Development
Background:
- Previous studies suggest a link between reduced slow wave sleep, lower growth hormone, and short stature in children with psychosocial deprivation.
- The role of total sleep duration in idiopathic short stature requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between total sleep duration and stature in a large cohort of children.
- To determine if reduced sleep duration is a contributing factor to short stature in children.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the National Study of Health and Growth, involving 5145 children aged 5-11 years.
- Estimated total sleep duration using parental responses to a self-administered questionnaire regarding bedtime and wake-up times.
- Employed statistical analysis to adjust for known height-associated variables.
Main Results:
- A weak negative association was observed between total sleep duration and height after adjusting for confounding factors.
- This suggests that longer sleep duration was slightly associated with greater height.
Conclusions:
- While a slight association exists, variations in total sleep duration among children are unlikely to be a major determinant of short stature.
- Further research may explore other sleep parameters or factors influencing growth in children.
Abstract:
Shorter durations of slow wave sleep and lower growth hormone responses have been reported in children with short stature caused by psychosocial deprivation. We investigated whether lower total sleep duration was associated with shorter stature in a sample of children taking part in the National Study of Health and Growth. Parental responses to a self administered questionnaire were used to estimate usual times for going to sleep at night and usual times for waking in the morning for 5145 children aged 5 to 11 years of age. After adjusting for the effects of other variables known to be associated with height, it was shown that there was a weak negative association between sleep duration and height. It is concluded that variation in sleep duration between children is unlikely to have an important influence on growth.