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Obesity in Children
Studies are showing that it may not be a bad idea to let children sleep more to
improve their overall health and well-being.
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New Study Links Obesity in Children with Lack of
Sleep
13 February 2007 By Carol Pearson - Washington, D.C.
Children who do not get enough sleep are often irritable
and unable to concentrate in school. But now a new study suggests
lack of sleep could also contribute to the epidemic of childhood
obesity in many countries. VOA's Carol Pearson has more on that
study and other research connecting sleepiness with obesity.
If children got to bed earlier and woke up later, fewer kids would
be overweight. That is the conclusion of a newly published study on
children and sleep.
The study was conducted at Northwestern University. It followed more
than 2,000 children from three to 18 years of age.
Researchers weighed the participants then checked them again five
years later. The children or their parents kept sleep journals.
The researchers found children who slept less weighed more than
those who got more sleep. Children who had just one extra hour of
sleep each night were 20 percent less likely to be overweight five
years later. Later bedtimes play a greater role in overweight
children between 3 and 8 years of age, while earlier waking times
play a greater role in the weight of children aged 8 to 13.
Experts recommend that children under five get 11 to 13 hours of
sleep each night; that children five to 12 get 10 to 11 hours of
sleep, and that teenagers get nine hours. Other research shows a
connection between lack of sleep and the hormone that causes hunger.
In this study, where volunteers had their sleep curtailed, the
hunger hormone, ghrelin, rose 24 percent.
Professor Eve Van Cauter at the University of Chicago says, "You're
more hungry, even if you have the same amount of food. And so you're
more likely to over-eat and thus gain weight."
Both studies agree with what sleep specialist Dr. Beth Malow at
Vanderbilt University has found: "This research is consistent with
prior studies, it's relatively new, and it's really applicable for
people of all ages."
The studies suggest sleep, at least more of it, could reduce the
risk of being overweight and the medical problems that accompany
weighing too much."
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The
The
Labors in the Spirits of
Science
Living on the Lost Planet 
