Effect of Sleep Extension on Body Weight and Learning in Children (More2Sleep)

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Sleep extension: The sleep extension group will receive a behavioral intervention focusing on parents putting their children to bed earlier by 60-90 minutes. Previous studies have found this change in daily sleeping routine to be feasible and to result in 40-45 min more actual sleep. Children and their parents will receive a behavioral intervention consisting of 6 sessions, including both in-person and virtual sessions, which will be scheduled based on the family's availability and to accommodate practicalities, e.g., potential sickness or cancellations. The first two sessions will occur at the beginning of the study. These initial sessions will focus on effective behavioral strategies to enhance sleep time, including goal setting (e.g., bedtimes and wake-up times), problem-solving and preplanning, stimulus control (i.e., sleep hygiene recommendations), and positive reinforcement. Subsequent sessions will be planned with the families to occur regularly during the 12-week intervention.

Study summary

More2Sleep is a randomized, controlled, parallel trial with two groups (sleep extension vs control) including 142 school-aged children (6-12 years) who have a BMI above average, defined as age- and sex-specific BMI Z-score above zero using WHO reference standards, and habitually sleep for ≤ 9 h/night. Data will be collected before and after a 3-month sleep extension intervention, and after a 6-month follow-up (at months 0, 3, and 9). The collection of data is mainly related to the main study. However, some optional examinations will be conducted on a first come, first serve basis, consisting of substudy-I (metabolic mechanisms, n=60) and substudy-II (learning mechanisms, n=142).

The primary objective is to assess the effects of sleep extension by \~45 min/night, achieved by going to bed 60-90 min earlier, on adiposity and learning ability in school-aged children who have a BMI for age and sex above average, and sleep less than recommended for their age.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• BMI Z-score — Assessed at months 0, 3 and 9
  BMI (in kg/m\^2) will be calculated from weight and height (secondary outcomes), and the age- and sex-specific BMI Z-score (in units of standard deviation from the reference population mean) will be computed using international (WHO) data
• Learning ability: skill learning — Assessed at months 0 and 3
  Skill learning ability will be measured as motor memory assessed as 24h retention after skill practice - I.e. total within and between session effect (range: from "low" = 0 to "high" = 100, unitless)
• Learning ability: Explicit memory — Assessed at months 0 and 3
  Explicit memory assessed as 24h retention after word list memory encoding - I.e. total within and between session effect. Number of correctly recalled words in a 2-minute standardized task (range: from 0 to 20)

Trial sites (3)

More University of Copenhagen trials in Denmark

Other trials for the same condition