Conference Agenda

Existing preventive interventions for obesity often neglect a key component of the 24-h movement profile: sleep. Hormonal changes due to lack of sleep lead to increased hunger, appetite and increase in calorie intake. Prioritizing sufficient sleep during childhood and adolescence is crucial for both immediate metabolic health and long-term obesity prevention. Our hypothesis was that sleep is an important component in the association between 24-hour movement profile and overweight.

We analysed data from Slovenian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study 2018. The observed population included 7449 adolescents (3707 girls and 3742 boys) aged 11, 13, 15 and 17. We performed a multivariate analysis using the logistic regression method. The observed outcome was overweight and obesity, the explanatory variable was sleep duration during the school week, and the confounding variables were gender, family socioeconomic status, physical activity and sedentary behaviour during the school week.

Those who sleep less than the recommended amount for their age during the school week have a 1.3 times greater likelihood of being overweight or obese (OR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.11-1.46, p = 0.001). The result is adjusted for confounding factors.

Sleep as a key component of the 24-h movement behaviour plays an important role in overweight and obesity in adolescents. Even when adolescents are regularly physically active and report moderate sedentary behaviour, insufficient sleep increases their risk of overweight and obesity. Promoting good sleep hygiene and adequate sleep should be a main focus of all interventions aimed at reducing and preventing obesity in adolescents.