Better sleep to improve choices and eating in teens with obesity
Official title: Improving sleep as a method for enhancing decision-making and reducing problematic eating behaviors in adolescents with obesity
Funded at Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware · NIH-11372584 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at whether helping teens with obesity sleep better can improve decision-making and reduce problematic eating.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R03 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Wilmington, United States) |
| Project start | February 1, 2024 |
| Project end | January 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $114,000 |
| NIH project number | 7R03DK138216-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11372584 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are adolescents (roughly ages 12–20) with obesity who report sleep problems or irregular sleep and are willing to try behavioral sleep strategies.
✕Less likely to help
Children under about 12, adults, people without sleep disturbance, or those with medical issues that prevent participation are unlikely to benefit from joining this project.
What this research studies
If you join, you would learn practical behavioral sleep skills and may wear a sleep tracker so the team can monitor your sleep patterns. The program combines sleep-focused coaching with usual weight-management support and tracks changes in eating habits and decision-making through questionnaires and behavioral tasks. Researchers will also collect information about food intake and weight-related measures over the study period to see if improved sleep links to healthier choices. The goal is to see whether fixing sleep problems helps teens control overeating and respond better to obesity treatment.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could help teens with obesity make better food choices, reduce overeating, and improve response to weight-management programs.
How similar studies have gone: Behavioral sleep treatments work well for sleep problems and early research links better sleep to less overeating, but formally combining sleep therapy with adolescent obesity care is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware
Wilmington, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Manasse, Stephanie — Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware
- Study coordinator: Manasse, Stephanie
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.