Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Sep 19:15:1426021.
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1426021. eCollection 2024.

Preventing and treating childhood obesity by sleeping better: a systematic review

Debora Porri  1 , Giovanni Luppino  1 , Tommaso Aversa  1 , Domenico Corica  1 , Mariella Valenzise  1 , Maria Francesca Messina  1 , Giorgia Pepe  1 , Letteria Anna Morabito  2 , Elisa La Rosa  2 , Cecilia Lugarà  1 , Tiziana Abbate  1 , Roberto Coco  1 , Francesca Franchina  1 , Aurora Lanzafame  1 , Fabio Toscano  1 , Alessandra Li Pomi  1 , Paola Cavallaro  1 , Malgorzata Gabriela Wasniewska  1
Affiliations

Preventing and treating childhood obesity by sleeping better: a systematic review

Debora Porri et al. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Background: Childhood obesity represents a major public health issue worldwide. Evidence showed the need to implement prevention strategies mainly focused on lifestyle habits. Sleep hygiene is a variable of great interest and this review systematically examined the effects of sleep duration in increasing childhood obesity risk.

Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted from December 2023 to February 2024. Study selection and data extraction procedures were performed in accordance with Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Guidelines and Statement, and risk of publication bias was assessed by the Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies.

Results: Original works in English were eligible for review and eleven studies that met the inclusion criteria were included. Studies collected were heterogeneous in terms of duration, sample characteristics, hours of sleep manipulation, anthropometric and hematological parameters collected, therefore it was not possible to perform a meta-analysis. A narrative synthesis of the reported evidence highlighted the impact of sleep duration above all on food intake, eating habits and hormone levels and consequently on the risk of childhood obesity development.

Conclusion: This finding suggests the need to consider sleep hygiene as a modifiable lifestyle habit like diet and physical activity, in order to early prevent childhood obesity. Poor sleep hygiene can significantly contribute to weight gain and exacerbation of metabolic disorders linked to childhood obesity. Although more rigorous studies are needed, clinicians need to be aware of the role of sleep hygiene in reducing childhood obesity risk.

Keywords: childhood obesity; childhood obesity prevention; childhood obesity treatment; lifestyle; sleep; sleep hygiene.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prisma Flow Diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Summary of sleep restriction and sleep extension on childhood obesity risk.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Wig G, Yaniv G, Levine H, Leiba A, Goldberger N, Derazne E, et al. . Body-mass index in 2.3million adolescents and cardiovascular death in adulthood. N Engl J Med. (2016) 374:2430–40. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1503840 - DOI - PubMed
    1. The Lancet Diabetes Endocrinology . Childhood obesity: a growing pandemic. Lancet DiabetesEndocrinol. (2022) 10:1. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(21)00314-4 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Maffeis C, Olivieri F, Valerio G, Verduci E, Licenziati MR, Calcaterra V, et al. . The treatment of obesity in children and adolescents: consensus position statement of the Italian society of pediatric endocrinology and diabetology, Italian Society of Pediatrics and Italian Society of Pediatric Surgery. Ital J Pediatr. (2023) 49:69. doi: 10.1186/s13052-023-01458-z - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Boege HL, Bhatti MZ, St-Onge MP. Circadian rhythms and meal timing: impact on energy balance and body weight. Curr Opin Biotechnol. (2021) 70:1–6. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2020.08.009 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Abbott SM, Malkani RG, Zee PC. Circadian disruption and human health: A bidirectional relationship. Eur J Neurosci. (2020) . 51:567–83. doi: 10.1111/ejn.14298 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources