Sleep variability and regularity as contributors to obesity and cardiometabolic health in adolescence

The study summarized the findings from studies conducted on adolescents examining sleep variability and regularity in relation to obesity and cardiometabolic health. Nightly deviations in sleep duration and sleep midpoint appear to contribute to the development of obesity and associated adverse cardiometabolic outcomes in youth. Studies show that increased sleep variability and irregularity are associated with obesity, decreased physical activity, dysregulated eating and inadequate diet, metabolic dysfunction, impaired cardiac autonomic balance, and elevated blood pressure in adolescents. A stable circadian timing of sleep is essential to the overall physical well‐being of youth. Future studies should focus on the underlying behavioral and biological mechanisms in the causal pathway between day‐to‐day deviations in the amount and timing of sleep and obesity.