A model linking video gaming, sleep quality, sweet drinks consumption and obesity among children and youth

Abstract

There is a growing need to curb paediatric obesity. The aim of this study is to untangle associations between video-game-use attributes and obesity as a first step towards identifying and examining possible interventions. Cross-sectional time-lagged cohort study was employed using parent-child surveys (t1) and objective physical activity and physiological measures (t2) from 125 children/adolescents (mean age = 13.06, 9-17-year-olds) who play video games, recruited from two clinics at a Canadian academic children's hospital. Structural equation modelling and analysis of covariance were employed for inference. The results of the study are as follows: (i) self-reported video-game play duration in the 4-h window before bedtime is related to greater abdominal adiposity (waist-to-height ratio) and this association may be mediated through reduced sleep quality (measured with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index); and (ii) self-reported average video-game session duration is associated with greater abdominal adiposity and this association may be mediated through higher self-reported sweet drinks consumption while playing video games and reduced sleep quality. Video-game play duration in the 4-h window before bedtime, typical video-game session duration, sweet drinks consumption while playing video games and poor sleep quality have aversive associations with abdominal adiposity. Paediatricians and researchers should further explore how these factors can be altered through behavioural or pharmacological interventions as a means to reduce paediatric obesity.

Video game use among secondary school students and associated factors

“…3 Pathological video gaming has been associated with numerous academic, social, psychological and physiological problems, including shortened sleep duration, reduced sleep quality, i n c r e a s e d a t t e n t i o n p r o b l e m s , diminished academic performance, increased caloric intake and obesity. 4 Many studies on video games have attempted to define excessive gaming and game addiction and understand the differences between these two problematic behavior. 5 No matter what terminology is used, researchers agree that the overuse of computer and video games can lead to behavioral addiction.…”

Time‐use for the iGeneration : A person‐centered approach

“…Therefore, this person‐centered study can conclude that although both these groups allocate time to gaming, the time they allocate to sleeping on weekdays is significantly different. These findings challenge variable‐centered studies where gamers as a whole are found to have less sleep and poor‐quality sleep (Turel et al, ; Van den Bulck, ). Our study finds adolescents may belong to either of two subsets of gamers (adolescents who only game or adolescents that game alongside participating in many other activities) and further investigation to identify the variance and developmental outcomes of each subset is required.…”

The association of irregular sleep habits with the risk of being overweight/obese in a sample of Portuguese children aged 6–9 years

“…Complex factors contribute to childhood adiposity, including biological factors (Silventoinen, Rokholm, Kaprio, & Sorensen, ) and lifestyle factors (Machado‐Rodrigues et al, ), such as sedentary lifestyle. In recent years, epidemiological studies have also reported that irregular sleep duration (i.e., shorter or longer than the recommended sleep duration) may be an additional risk factor for being overweight among children (Li, Zhang, Huang, & Chen, ; Turel, Romashkin, & Morrison, ). Findings from the present research revealed that males who have irregular sleep duration were 1.28 times more likely to be classified as overweight children than their counterparts on weekdays, which was consistent with previous studies in Italy (Rosi et al, ), Norway (Danielsen, Pallesen, Stormark, Nordhus, & Bjorvatn, ), the Netherlands (Derks et al, ), the U.S. (Snell, Adam, & Duncan, ), and China (Wang et al, ).…”