Role of sleep duration and obesity-related health behaviors in young children

Adverse health outcomes and obesity are especially high among children with sleep deficiencies. Such health consequences may differentially affect children 2–5 years of age, during which time children undergo drastic shifts in sleep patterns and neurological development. To date, little epidemiologic research has examined the link between sleep and obesity-related health behaviors among this age group. We investigated the relationship between sleep and eating/physical activity behaviors among children aged 2–5 years old. In fall 2018, parents and teachers of 1,169 children attending 34 Early Childcare Education (ECE) centers in Georgia completed surveys on sleep patterns and obesity-related health and eating behaviors. In this analysis, sleep was not associated with various child eating behaviors either at home or in the classroom, however, shorter sleep duration was found to be associated with lower physical activity during the school day (p < 0.01). Furthermore, when stratifying by gender, girls sleeping <10 h were less likely to eat more than one vegetable at home than those sleeping ≥10 h (p = 0.04). This preliminary evidence is a starting point, from which researchers may continue elucidating the drivers of obesity in this understudied population.