Systematic review of the relationships between sleep duration and health indicators in school-aged children and youth.
The objective of this systematic review was to examine the relationships between objectively and subjectively measured sleep duration and various health indicators in children and youth aged 5-17 years. Online databases were searched in January 2015 with no date or study design limits. Included studies were peer-reviewed and met the a priori-determined population (apparently healthy children and youth aged 5-17 years), intervention/exposure/comparator (various sleep durations), and outcome (adiposity, emotional regulation, cognition/academic achievement, quality of life/well-being, harms/injuries, and cardiometabolic biomarkers) criteria. Because of high levels of heterogeneity across studies, narrative syntheses were employed. A total of 141 articles (110 unique samples), including 592 215 unique participants from 40 different countries, met inclusion criteria. Overall, longer sleep duration was associated with lower adiposity indicators, better emotional regulation, better academic achievement, and better quality of life/well-being. The evidence was mixed and/or limited for the association between sleep duration and cognition, harms/injuries, and cardiometabolic biomarkers. The quality of evidence ranged from very low to high across study designs and health indicators. In conclusion, we confirmed previous investigations showing that shorter sleep duration is associated with adverse physical and mental health outcomes. However, the available evidence relies heavily on cross-sectional studies using self-reported sleep. To better inform contemporary sleep recommendations, there is a need for sleep restriction/extension interventions that examine the changes in different outcome measures against various amounts of objectively measured sleep to have a better sense of dose-response relationships.
a Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L1, Canada.
Jean-Philippe
JP
Chaput
a Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L1, Canada.
Casey E
CE
Gray
a Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L1, Canada.
Veronica J
VJ
Poitras
b Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Valerie
V
Carson
c Attention, Behavior, and Sleep Laboratory, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Verdun, QC, Canada.
Reut
R
Gruber
d Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), Sansom Institute of Health Research, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
Timothy
T
Olds
e Division of Neurology, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Shelly K
SK
Weiss
f Office of the Task Force on Preventive Health Care, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Sarah
S
Connor Gorber
g School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Michelle E
ME
Kho
a Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L1, Canada.
Margaret
M
Sampson
a Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L1, Canada.
Kevin
K
Belanger
a Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L1, Canada.
Sheniz
S
Eryuzlu
a Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L1, Canada.
Laura
L
Callender
a Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L1, Canada.
Mark S
MS
Tremblay
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000517:prevention & control; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000517:prevention & control; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control; D011788:Quality of Life; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012890:Sleep; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D015415:Biomarkers
academic achievement; adiposity; adiposité; bien-être; blessures; body weight; cognition; contrôle des émotions; durée du sommeil; emotional regulation; injuries; masse corporelle; mental health; quality of life; qualité de vie; rendement scolaire; santé mentale; sleep duration; well-being