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How do short sleepers use extra waking hours? A compositional analysis of 24-h time-use patterns among children and
Aleš Gába1, Jan Dygrýn2, Nikola Štefelová3
1Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic. ales.gaba@upol.cz.
Insights
Short sleep duration is common in children and adolescents, linked to more sedentary time and less physical activity. Interventions are needed to address this prevalent issue and promote healthier waking behaviors.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Sleep Science
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Short sleep duration is a widespread issue among children and adolescents.
- Understanding its association with waking behaviors is crucial for public health.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between short sleep duration and sedentary behavior (SB), light physical activity (LPA), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in young populations.
- To analyze these associations using compositional data analysis.
Main Methods:
- Utilized multi-day accelerometer data from 343 children (8-13 years) and 316 adolescents (14-18 years).
- Defined short sleepers as those sleeping <9 hours (children) or <8 hours (adolescents).
- Employed robust compositional regression to analyze the composition of waking time relative to sleep duration.
Main Results:
- High prevalence of short sleep: 71% in children and 75.3% in adolescents.
- In children, short sleep correlated with 95 min/day more SB and 16 min/day less MVPA.
- In adolescents, short sleep correlated with 67 min/day more SB and 2 min/day less LPA.
Conclusions:
- Short sleep duration is highly prevalent in children and adolescents.
- It is significantly associated with less healthy waking time behaviors, including increased sedentary time and reduced physical activity.
- Public health strategies are necessary to combat short sleep and its associated negative outcomes.
Background:
To examine compositional associations between short sleep duration and sedentary behavior (SB), light physical activity (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among children and adolescents.
Methods:
Multi-day 24-h data on sleep, SB, LPA and MVPA were collected using accelerometers among 343 children (8-13 years old) and 316 adolescents (14-18 years old). Children and adolescents with sleep duration of < 9 and < 8 h, respectively, were classified as short sleepers. Robust compositional regression analysis was used to examine the associations between short sleep duration and the waking-time composition.
Results:
Seventy-one percent of children and 75.3% of adolescents were classified as short sleepers. In children, being a short sleeper was associated with higher SB by 95 min/day (p < 0.001) and lower MVPA by 16 min/day (p = 0.002). Specifically, it was associated with a higher amount of time spent in long sedentary bouts (βilr1 = 0.46, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.29 to 0.62) and lower amounts of time spent in sporadic SB (βilr1 = - 0.17, 95% CI = -0.24 to - 0.10), sporadic LPA (βilr1 = - 0.09, 95% CI = -0.14 to - 0.04) and sporadic MVPA (βilr1 = - 0.17, 95% CI = -0.25 to - 0.10, p < 0.001 for all), relative to the remaining behaviours. In adolescents, being a short sleeper was associated with a higher amount of time spent in SB by 67 min/day (p = 0.001) and lower LPA by 2 min/day (p = 0.035). Specifically, it was associated with more time spent in sedentary bouts of 1-9 min (βilr1 = 0.08, 95% CI = 0.02 to 0.14, p = 0.007) and 10-29 min (βilr1 = 0.10, 95% CI = 0.02 to 0.18, p = 0.015), relative to the remaining behaviours.
Conclusions:
Among children and adolescents, short sleep duration seems to be highly prevalent and associated with less healthy waking time. Public health interventions and strategies to tackle the high prevalence of short sleep duration among children and adolescents are warranted.
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