PremiumIt can lead to other health complcations like elevated blood pressure, and abnormal blood lipid and glucose levels
Insufficient sleep can lead to various health complications among adolescents including obesity, elevated blood pressure, and abnormal blood lipid and glucose levels, a new study has revealed.
The study author Jesus Martinez Gomez, a researcher in training at the Cardiovascular Health and Imaging Laboratory, Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC), Madrid, Spain pointed out, "Our study shows that most teenagers do not get enough sleep and this is connected with excess weight and characteristics that promote weight gain, potentially setting them up for future problems."
"We are currently investigating whether poor sleep habits are related to excessive screen time, which could explain why older adolescents get even less sleep than younger ones."
For the study, researchers examined the association between sleep duration and health in 1,229 adolescents and had an average age of 12 years at baseline with equal numbers of boys and girls.
Sleep was measured for seven days with a wearable activity tracker three times in each participant at ages 12, 14, and 16 years. The study used 8 hours or more as optimal. Accordinly, participants were categorised as very short sleepers (less than 7 hours), short sleepers (7 to 8 hours), and optimal (8 hours or more).
At 12 years of age, only 34% of participants slept at least 8 hours a night, and this dropped to 23% and 19% at 14 and 16 years of age, respectively. Teenagers who got the most sleep also had better quality sleep, meaning they woke up less during the night and spent a higher proportion of the time in bed sleeping compared to those with shorter sleep.
The prevalence of overweight/obesity was 27%, 24%, and 21% at 12, 14, and 16 years of age, respectively.
Compared with optimal sleepers, overweight/obesity was 21% and 72% more likely in very short sleepers at 12 and 14 years, respectively. Short sleepers were 19% and 29% more likely to be overweight/obese compared with optimal sleepers at 12 and 14 years, respectively. Similarly, both very short and short sleepers had higher average metabolic syndrome scores at 12 and 14 years compared with optimal sleepers.
Mr. Martinez Gomez said: "The connections between insufficient sleep and adverse health were independent of energy intake and physical activity levels, indicating that sleep itself is important. Excess weight and metabolic syndrome are ultimately associated with cardiovascular diseases, suggesting that health promotion programmes in schools should teach good sleep habits. Parents can set a good example by having a consistent bedtime and limiting screen time in the evening. Public policies are also needed to tackle this global health problem."