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Sleep vital in childhood obesity battle

30/05/2011 1:10:00 PM, Health Hub staff Prev Next

It's not a poor diet or lazy lifestyle that's playing havoc with children's waistlines. A new study has revealed that a lack of sleep is more likely to make kids overweight.

Otago University followed nearly 250 children born in Dunedin in 2001 and 2002, reports the NZ Herald.

The long-term study, published in the British Medical Journal, found that children aged between three and five who had an extra hour of sleep each night was linked to a reduced weight-to-height ratio by the age of seven.

Three to five year-olds were averaging around 11 hours sleep each day with the range between the longest and shortest sleepers more than three hours.

According to one of the study's authors, paediatrician Professor Barry Taylor, a child's level of physical activity had no effect on whether or not they are overweight by the age of seven.

"Diet had some effect but the biggest effect was short sleep," he said. "We were surprised by how big a factor [sleep was]."

The amount of sleep each child got altered the hormones that control metabolism and appetite, and therefore how much food was consumed.

The professor blamed electronic games, television and kids not having a regular bedtime as one of the causes of lack of sleep in children today.

User comments

There is no question that all humans need proper sleep to keep excess fat off but food intake and fitness is the major cause of childhood obesity. Saying that eating and exercise have less effect than sleep on our kids waistlines is just not accurate.

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