Did You Know? An Extra Hour of Sleep Lowers Obesity Risk in Newborns
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Photo by Dominika Roseclay from Pexels
We've seen a number of interesting studies explore the relationship between poor sleep and obesity, with some also tying in other adverse health effects such as hypertension and diabetes. A new paper has investigated this phenomenon in newborns, finding that sleeping soundly during the first few months of life can be an important factor in preventing excessive weight gain during this early formative period. The authors of this new study set out to plug some of the gaps in our knowledge around how sleep, or lack thereof, can influence physical growth in the first six months of a child's life. While various studies have drilled into the details of this relationship in adults, including some that unearth tissue-level molecular changes in shift-workers, for example, few studies have focused on infants with disrupted sleep patterns. "While an association between insufficient sleep and weight gain is well-established in adults and older children, this link has not been previously recognized in infants," says study co-author Susan Redline from Brigham and Women's Hospital. "In this study, we found that not only shorter nighttime sleep, but more sleep awakenings, were associated with a higher likelihood of infants becoming overweight in the first six months of life."
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