Sleep duration associates with moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity and body fat in 1-to 3-year-old children

Sleep during early childhood is important for many developmental outcomes and shows promise as an important correlate of both obesity risk and physical activity behaviors. This was a cross-sectional study concerning the relationships between sleep and moderate- to - vigorous intensity physical activity and body fat percentage in a sample of 1- to 3-year-old children (N = 50; ages 27.512 +/- 10.363 months). Sleep was measured with a caregiver questionnaire. Sedentary time, light, moderate, vigorous, and moderate- to - vigorous intensity physical activity were measured with Actigraph wT3x-BT accelerometers. Body fat was measured using Air Displacement Plethysmography with the BodPod Pediatric Option. Moderate- to - vigorous intensity physical activity and body fat percentage both associated with sleep duration, controlling for age and accelerometer wear time. These factors combined explained 54.3 % of the variance in sleep duration present in the sample. These results suggest the presence of relationships between sleep and physical activity and body composition constructs in this sample. Sleep may be an important variable in efforts to both promote early childhood physical activity and healthy body composition.