Associations of Socioeconomic Adversity and Sleep With Allostatic Load Among Toddlers

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among sleep characteristics, stress (allostatic load), and health among toddlers living in economically stressed communities. Sleep difficulty, including short sleep duration and poor sleep efficiency, is closely related to measures of stress, including interleukin (IL-6), cortisol, c-reactive proteins (CRP), secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA), and body mass index (BMI) and may therefore contribute to 'wear and tear' on the body (allostatic load), a problem that places children at high risk of physical and mental health problems. Young children who live with socioeconomic adversity are especially vulnerable to both sleep difficulty and higher levels of physiologic stress (allostatic load).