Published in:
22-02-2025 | Original Article
“Early to Bed and Early to Rise Makes You Healthy”: Results from A Cross-Sectional Study Among Adolescents
Authors: Omna Chawla, Kaustav Kundu, Jyoti Darbari, Ravi Gupta
Published in: Sleep and Vigilance | Issue 1/2025
Login to get accessAbstract
Background
Obesity and sleep insufficiency have posed as concurrent epidemics in adolescence. A structured sleep-schedule, correcting the delayed sleep patterns in adolescents, might be a significant way to prevent obesity.
Objectives
Primarily, to explore whether structured sleep-schedule reduced chances of obesity. Secondarily, to examine the interaction of sleep-timing and sleep-duration on measures of obesity, daytime alertness and sleep-quality.
Methods
This was a cross-sectional descriptive study, conducted between December 2021 and November 2022, among students of two day-schools and two residential-schools in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. They were evaluated with PSQI for sleep–wake pattern and other sleep dimensions. Anthropometric measures like BMI and MUAC were taken as per standard guidelines.
Results
A total of 1067 students’ data was analyzed, two-thirds of whom were males (n = 723, 67.8%), with a mean age of 14.98 ± 1.58 years. The day-schools students (at-will sleep-schedule) had greater % of obesity than residential school-students (structured sleep-schedule), despite having greater % of playing regular sports. When divided according to sleep-groups, those sleeping later than 10 pm had more proportion of obesity, with highest in those sleeping late and > 8 h. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that greater involvement in sports, longer sleeping hours with delayed bedtime was associated with increased odds for obesity.
Conclusion
Delayed sleep-schedule is a paramount factor influencing adolescent obesity, which does not seem to be prevented by lesser calorie consumption or greater sports activities. The old saying “Early to bed and early to rise makes a person healthy wealthy and wise” still finds relevance in growing children.
Advertisement
