Associations between Sleep Architecture, Dietary Intake and Physical Activity in Children: A Systematic Review.

Abstract

Review Objective The primary objective of this review is to investigate whether sleep insufficiency and / or sleep inefficiency is associated with poor dietary intake and behaviours in children and therefore increasing the risk of overweight and obesity. The second objective of this review is to investigate whether sleep insufficiency and / or sleep inefficiency is related to sub-optimal physical activity and sedentary behaviour patterns in children and therefore increasing the risk of overweight and obesity. Criteria for Inclusion Population This review will consider studies which include otherwise healthy children of pre-school, primary school and secondary school age. For purposes of the review, this will be defined as being 3-18year old. Studies will be excluded if the population has known co-morbidities. Phenomenon of interest The phenomenon of interest is the association between sleep architecture and dietary patterns. For the purposes of this review, sleep architecture is defined as the quantitative portions of the sleep cycle, including non-rapid eye movement / rapid eye movement (NREM/REM) sleep. Sleep insufficiency is defined as the amount of sleep that is less than the normal expected amount for a person of a given age. Sleep inefficiency refers to the quality of the sleep. It can refer to the ratio of time spent asleep to the time available for sleep; the level of disturbance during sleep e.g. arousal index, respiratory disturbance index or number of nocturnal awakenings; or the ability of sleep to support daytime wakefulness, alertness and normal functioning. Dietary patterns are defined as the type and portion of foods consumed as part of a whole diet, as well as the behaviours and environment surrounding the food consumption. This includes the selection and preparation of foods, the timing of food consumption, and the setting and context in which the food is consumed. Outcome Measures Studies eligible for consideration in this review will includes those with the following outcome measures of interest: I. Sleep quantity / quality measure outcomes: sleep duration (minutes / hours); sleep efficiency(%); nocturnal awakenings. TRUNCATED AT 350 WORDS