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Sleep onset, duration, or regularity: which matters most for child adiposity outcomes?

Trevin E Glasgow1, Elizabeth L Adams2, Albert Ksinan3

  • 1Department of Health Behavior and Policy, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.

International Journal of Obesity (2005)
|May 13, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Longer sleep duration in children (ages 4-13) is linked to lower body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). Pediatric sleep interventions should prioritize increasing sleep duration for improved child adiposity outcomes.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric sleep science
  • Childhood obesity research
  • Chronobiology

Background:

  • Sleep duration and onset timing are linked to childhood adiposity.
  • The Sleep Regularity Index (SRI) measures sleep/wake variability but is understudied in children.
  • This study investigates sleep duration, onset timing, and SRI in relation to pediatric adiposity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the associations between sleep duration, sleep onset timing, and sleep regularity (SRI) with measures of adiposity in children.
  • To determine if sleep regularity adds to the prediction of adiposity beyond traditional sleep measures.
  • To inform pediatric sleep interventions for managing childhood obesity.

Main Methods:

  • 144 children (ages 4-13) from the U.S. Newborn Epigenetic STudy (NEST) participated.
  • Actigraphy was used for 1 week to assess sleep duration and onset timing.
  • Objective measurements of height, weight, and waist circumference were used to calculate BMI, BMI Z-score, and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR).

Main Results:

  • Longer sleep duration was significantly associated with lower BMI Z-score, waist circumference, and WHtR.
  • Sleep onset timing was not significantly associated with any adiposity measures.
  • Sleep Regularity Index (SRI) associations with adiposity were non-significant, though marginally significant for WHtR.

Conclusions:

  • Sleep duration is a consistent correlate of adiposity in children aged 4-13.
  • Pediatric sleep interventions should prioritize increasing nighttime sleep duration to potentially improve adiposity outcomes.
  • Further research is needed to explore the role of sleep regularity in pediatric adiposity.
Abstract

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