Sleep health, nutrition, and cardiometabolic risk

Abstract

Sleep deficiencies (e.g., insufficient sleep, irregular timing of sleep, poor quality of sleep) in childhood are highly prevalent and have consistently been shown to negatively impact both physical and mental health. Adverse outcomes of childhood sleep deficiencies include higher rates of obesity, depression, anxiety, and emotional dysregulation (Palmer et al., 2023). Importantly, research has shown that sleep difficulties often precede the development of these adverse health outcomes and represent a modifiable risk factor (McMakin & Alfano, 2015). Given that sleep is a critical element of a child's life, good and sufficient sleep (quality and quantity) should be given extra attention by parents to help their children thrive, and to limit the chance that their child develops severe and less modifiable mental or physical health issues (Meltzer et al., 2021). Sleep is, therefore, a critical dimension of a child's health that should be given attention, especially for those at high risk for the development of obesity and related cardiometabolic sequelae.