Extra Hour Of Sleep May Reduce Risk Of Obesity For Infants

Nov, 2021 - By WMR

According to a study, long and uninterrupted sleep at night lowers the risk of being overweight in new born.

A new study published in the journal Sleep on October 22, 2021 investigated the link between poor sleep and obesity in new-borns, which suggests that infants who sleep for short period of time and wake up often during the night sleep are at higher risk of being overweight. This new research conducted by the scientists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in collaboration with other scientists found that a sound sleep in the first few months of life is necessary to prevent extra weight gain throughout the infancy.

Various researches have studied the relationship of sleep and physical growth in adults, while in this new study, the team of scientists tried to understand the lack of sleep and its influence on physical growth in the first six months of an infant’s life. The scientists observed 298 infants born during 2016 and 2018. Using ankle actigraphy watches (a device that measures activity and rest patterns), the team tracked sleep activity of the infants and collected three days’ worth of activity data at one and six month mark of the babies’ life. Moreover, the parents kept sleep diaries to record sleep and wake up episodes of the infant.

The study found that with each extra additional hour of night time sleep period throughout first six months was linked with 26% decreased risk of being overweight for the infants. Also, the newborns, who woke up less through the night had lower risk of gaining weight. The scientists are still searching for answers to many questions to gain a deeper understanding of the link between poor sleep and weight gain in newborns, as they plan to explore possibilities with further study that focuses on first two years of infants’ life.