2008/02/11
The longer children sleep at night, the less likely they are to be overweight or obese, concludes a U.S. study in the February issue of the journal Obesity.
Researchers analyzed 11 published studies and found that the risk of children being overweight or obese declines nine percent for each additional hour of sleep they get per night, CBC News reported.
"Our analysis of the data shows a clear association between sleep duration and the risk for overweight or obesity in children. The risk declined with more sleep," senior author Youfa Wang, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Human Nutrition, said in a prepared statement.
Wang and colleagues found that children who got the least amount of sleep -- less than 9 hours for those under age five, and less than 7 hours for those over age 10 -- were 92 percent more likely to be overweight or obese than children who got more sleep, CBC News reported.
Lack of sleep may increase children's risk of being overweight and obese by affecting their metabolism and hormone levels, the researchers suggested.
"The prevalence of childhood obesity may be decreased by increasing sleep duration, independent of other risk factors for childhood obesity," the researchers wrote. "Our findings have some important public health implications for fighting the growing childhood obesity epidemic."
Resources
Health Feature - Childhood Obesity
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EatRight Ontario
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