Objectively-measured sleep and its association with adiposity and physical activity in a sample of Canadian children

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Jessica Mcneil1, Mark S Tremblay, Geneviève Leduc

  • 1Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada; School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.

Journal of Sleep Research
|October 1, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Childhood sleep efficiency, not duration or timing, is linked to adiposity. Shorter sleep durations and higher sleep efficiencies correlated with increased sedentary time in children, indicating a need for nuanced sleep recommendations.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Sleep Science
  • Obesity Research

Background:

  • Objective sleep measures are crucial for understanding child health.
  • Previous research has shown mixed associations between sleep and adiposity in children.
  • The interplay between sleep parameters, physical activity, and body composition requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine cross-sectional associations between objectively measured sleep (duration, efficiency, timing) and adiposity in children.
  • To investigate the relationship between sleep parameters and physical activity levels in the same cohort.
  • To determine which sleep metrics are independently associated with adiposity in children.

Main Methods:

  • A cohort of 515 children (aged 10.0 ± 0.4 years) underwent 7-day objective sleep monitoring via actigraphy.
  • Adiposity was assessed using height, weight, waist circumference, and body fat percentage.
  • Multivariable linear regression analyses controlled for relevant covariates to assess associations.

Main Results:

  • Sleep efficiency was inversely associated with all measured adiposity indices (e.g., body fat percentage, waist circumference).
  • Sleep duration and sleep timing were not significantly associated with adiposity after covariate adjustment.
  • Shorter sleep duration correlated with increased light physical activity and sedentary time; higher sleep efficiency correlated with more sedentary time.

Conclusions:

  • Only sleep efficiency demonstrated an independent association with adiposity in this cohort of children.
  • Children with shorter sleep durations or higher sleep efficiencies exhibited greater sedentary time.
  • Further research is needed to refine sleep recommendations for children using objective sleep metrics.

Keywords:
anthropometric measurementsexercisesedentary behaviorsleep patterns

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