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Childhood obesity and sleep: relatives, partners, or both?—a critical perspective on the evidence
Author(s) -
Gozal David,
KheirandishGozal Leila
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2012.06723.x
Subject(s) - obesity , sleep (system call) , obstructive sleep apnea , childhood obesity , medicine , sleep apnea , developmental psychology , perspective (graphical) , psychology , endocrinology , overweight , artificial intelligence , computer science , operating system
In modern life, children are unlikely to obtain sufficient or regular sleep and waking schedules. Inadequate sleep affects the regulation of homeostatic and hormonal systems underlying somatic growth, maturation, and bioenergetics. Therefore, assessments of the obesogenic lifestyle, including as dietary and physical activity, need to be coupled with accurate evaluation of sleep quality and quantity, and coexistence of sleep apnea. Inclusion of sleep as an integral component of research studies on childhood obesity should be done as part of the study planning process. Although parents and health professionals have quantified normal patterns of activities in children, sleep has been almost completely overlooked. As sleep duration in children appears to have declined, reciprocal obesity rates have increased. Also, increases in pediatric obesity rates have markedly increased the risk of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) in children. Obesity and OSAS share common pathways underlying end‐organ morbidity, potentially leading to reciprocal amplificatory effects. The relative paucity of data on the topics covered in the perspective below should serve as a major incentive toward future research on these critically important concepts.