Longitudinal Association between Short Sleep, Body Weight, and Emotional and Learning Problems in Hispanic and Caucasian Children

Abstract

Children with reduced amounts of sleep (≤ 7.5 h/night) had an increased risk for higher body weight in early adolescence. Similarly, children who slept ≤ 7.5 h/night had higher risk of being anxious or depressed or having learning problems in early adolescence.

Sleep Duration and Adolescent Obesity

“…10 Similarly, Silva et al recruited 304 children (aged 6-12) who were followed-up 5 years later (aged 10 to 18), and observed that sleeping for ,7.5 hours per day at baseline, compared with $9.0 hours per day at baseline, was associated with a threefold increased likelihood of being obese at follow-up. 11 Our findings are consistent with these findings and extend the research by following adolescents over a longer time period and studying the entire BMI distribution. However, 1 study reported a null association between sleep duration and BMI defined obesity at 2-year follow-up in a sample of 13 568 adolescents.…”

“…Three longitudinal studies have investigated the relationship between sleep duration and adolescent BMI. [9][10][11] Two of those studies found evidence that less sleep led to an increased likelihood of being classified as obese at follow-up, 10,11 whereas 1 study found no association. 9 These studies only measured BMI at 2 time points and categorized participants into nonobese and obese groups based on BMI.…”

“…27,28 It is a limitation that we were not able to include any measure of dietary intake in our study, and we cannot exclude the possibility that our findings are explained, in part, by increases in caloric intake with less sleep. 29 However, the association between less sleep and adolescent obesity reported by Silva et al was adjusted for caloric intake, 11 which implies that more sleep could contribute to the prevention of adolescent obesity, even for those who consume an excess of calories. It has been proposed that less sleep increases adolescent BMI by decreasing physical activity, as a consequence of fatigue and changes in hormones that regulate energy expenditure, 30,31 and increasing energy intake, as a consequence of more eating opportunities and changes in hormones that regulate energy intake.…”

“…10,11 Seegers et al observed 1916 preadolescents from age 10 to 13 and found that those in the low sleep trajectory group were 3 times more likely to be obese, compared with those in the high sleep trajectory group. 10 Similarly, Silva et al recruited 304 children (aged 6-12) who were followed-up 5 years later (aged 10 to 18), and observed that sleeping for ,7.5 hours per day at baseline, compared with $9.0 hours per day at baseline, was associated with a threefold increased likelihood of being obese at follow-up.…”

“…We followed adolescents over 8 study waves, whereas previous longitudinal studies included only 2 study waves. [9][10][11] Our analytical method allowed for the investigation of sleep duration at the tails of the BMI distribution, and we were able to determine how sleep duration affected the shape of the BMI distribution. Our study also has limitations.…”