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Sleep hygiene recommendations discourage eating before bedtime; however, the impact of mealtime on sleep has been inconsistent. We examined gender-stratified associations between eating or drinking <1, <2 and <3 h before bedtime, sleep duration and wake after sleep onset (WASO >30 min). This study utilised 2003–2018 data from the American Time Use Survey, a nationally representative sample of USA residents aged ≥15 years. Participants recorded weekday/weekend activities during a 24-h period. Age-specific sleep duration and WASO were estimated categorically and continuously. Eating or drinking were identified from all activities recorded <1, <2 and <3 h before bedtime. Mean ± se sleep duration was 8·0 ± 0·006 h, and 6% of participants ate or drank <1 h prior to weekdays bedtime. Overall, eating or drinking <1 h prior to bedtime was associated with longer weekdays sleep duration. Women and men who ate or drank <1 h before bedtime, v. those who did not, had 35 min (95% CI (30,39)) and 25 min (95 % CI (21,29)) longer sleep duration, respectively, as well as increased odds of WASO; women (OR=2·03, 95% CI (1·66,2·49)) and men (OR=2·64, 95% CI (2·08,3·36)). As the interval of eating or drinking prior to bedtime expanded, odds of short and long sleep durations and WASO decreased. This population-based data linked eating or drinking <1 h before bedtime to longer sleep duration, but increased WASO. Eating or drinking further from bedtime lowers the odds of short and long sleep duration and WASO. Causal pathways are difficult to discern, though inefficient sleep after late-night eating could increase WASO and trigger compensatory increases in sleep duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted to establish the relationship between short sleep duration and the increased risk of coronary artery calcification. Results indicated that longer measured sleep did reduce the risk of calcification.

The association between sleep and adolescent growth and developmental stage is examined in a large sample of adolescents ages 12-16 years from a nationally representative longitudinal study. The results, which are based on a large sample size, guarantee further examination with more objective measures into the association between sleep and growth and development among adolescents.

Non‐communicable diseases, including diabetes, are partly responsible for the deceleration of improvements of life expectancy in many countries. Diabetes is also associated with sleep disturbances. Our aim was to determine whether sleep disturbances, particularly in people with diabetes, were associated with increased mortality risk. Data from the UK Biobank were analysed (n = 487,728, mean follow‐up time = 8.9 years). The primary exposure was sleep disturbances, assessed through the question: Do you have trouble falling asleep at night or do you wake up in the middle of the night? The primary outcome was mortality. We also dichotomized sleep disturbances into "never/sometimes" versus "usually" (frequently), and combined with the presence/absence of diabetes: 24.2% of participants reported "never/rarely" experiencing sleep disturbances, 47.8% "sometimes" and 28.0% "usually". In age‐ and sex‐adjusted models, frequent sleep disturbances were associated with an increased risk of all‐cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.26–1.37), which remained significant in the fully adjusted model (HR 1.13, 95% CI 1.09–1.18). The presence of both diabetes and frequent sleep disturbances was associated with greater risk of all‐cause mortality than either condition alone. In the fully adjusted model, the hazard ratio for all‐cause mortality was 1.11 (95% CI, 1.07–1.15) for frequent sleep disturbances alone, 1.67 (95% CI, 1.57–1.76) for diabetes alone and 1.87 for both (95% CI, 1.75–2.01). Frequent sleep disturbances (experienced by more than one quarter of the sample) were associated with increased risk of all‐cause mortality. Mortality risk was highest in those with both diabetes and frequent sleep disturbances. Complaints of difficulty falling or staying asleep merit attention by physicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]