Sleep during infancy and later overweight

There is emerging evidence of a relationship between short sleep duration and poor quality of sleep with overweight and obesity. This has been clearly demonstrated in adults and there is increasing evidence of this relationship in children and adolescents. One area that needs more study is whether sleep patterns early in life are important for the development of subsequent obesity. This may be complicated because sleep in infants is more fragmented because it is interspersed with feedings. In this volume of The Journal, Tuohino et al report the results of their study that evaluated whether shorter sleep duration at 3 and 8 months of age is associated with risk of gaining excess weight at 24 months of age.
Source: The Journal of Pediatrics - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: The Editors' Perspectives Source Type: research