Fat kids may need more sleep

William Atkins
Tuesday, 20 November 2007 18:31

Science - Health

According to a study conducted by Michigan researchers on third grade children turned sixth graders, the more sleep children get, the less obese they become.

Led by Julie C. Lumeng, assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan Center for Human Growth and Development (Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital), at Ann Arbor, the researchers used data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development.

According to the objective of the study, “The potential association between short sleep duration or sleep problems and childhood overweight has not been well described. The objective of this study was to test the independent associations of sleep duration and problems with overweight risk in children.”

In the study, the parents of 785 third-grade children, from around the United States, were surveyed about their sleep habits. Then, three years later, when the children were in the sixth grade, the parents were interviewed again. Over these three years, 18% of the children had become obese.

Lumeng’s team stated that this association (more sleep, less chance of becoming obese) is regardless of their body-mass-index (BMI), gender, socioeconomic status/maternal education, race, or home environment.

Lumeng stated, “Many children aren’t getting enough sleep, and that lack of sleep may not only be making them moody or preventing them from being alert and ready to learn at school, it may also be leading to a higher risk of being overweight.” [ScienceDaily.com]

The average amount of sleep for these third-grade children was 9.45 hours per night, while the average amount of sleep for the six-graders was 8.78 hours.

Lumeng’s team found that each additional hour of sleep that a child got (in sixth grade) each night related to a 20% less chance of becoming obese. In fact, the relationship was more noticeable in third grade, when an extra hour of sleep meant that the child had a 40% less chance of becoming obese three years later.