The impact of sleep, stress, and depression on postpartum weight retention: A systematic review

• Little work on sleep, stress, depression, and post-partum weight retention (PPWR)
• Short sleep duration associated with greater PPWR in 4 studies
• Four studies did not find an association between stress and PPWR.
• Mixed findings for depression and PPWR (n = 4 positive; n = 3 no association)
• Research is needed to untangle effects of sleep, stress, and depression on PPWR.

ObjectiveTo review the impact of sleep, stress, and/or depression on postpartum weight retention.MethodsWe searched three electronic databases, PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and PsycInfo. Studies were included if they were published between January 1990 and September 2013 in English, measured sleep, stress, and/or depression in the postpartum period, and assessed the association of these factors with postpartum weight retention. Two reviewers reviewed included articles and rated study quality using a modified version of the Downs and Black scale.ResultsThirteen studies met our pre-defined eligibility criteria, reporting on 9 study samples. Two were cross-sectional studies and eleven were longitudinal studies. The study sample size ranged from 74 to 37,127. All four studies examining short sleep duration and postpartum weight retention reported a positive association. The four studies examining postpartum stress and weight retention reported non-significant associations only. Of 7 studies examining postpartum depression and weight retention, 3 reported non-significant associations, and 4 reported positive associations.ConclusionResearch investigating the impact of postpartum sleep, stress, depression on weight retention is limited. Future longitudinal studies are needed.