Lack of sleep makes kids fatter

Super-size meals and lack of exercise are some widely known factors that can dramatically increase the body fat. Now, pediatric researchers at the University of Michigan's Center for Human Growth and Development have associated lack of sleep with an increased risk of obesity in preteens, providing another reason for obesity, a gateway to heart disease, diabetes and a host of other diseases.

Children who do not go to bed in time or stay up past their bedtimes are at increased risk of being overweight or obese, the researchers reported on Monday. Insufficient sleep can negatively affect kids' metabolism as well as their exercise and eating habits, causing their bellies grow bigger.

"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," said Dr. Julie Lumeng, lead author of the study.

To reach their findings, Lumeng and colleagues conducted a study involving children of nine to 12 years of age, and found that kids who slept less than nine hours a night were more likely to gain weight than those who rested more.

For their study, the researchers used data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development and focused on 785 elementary school children, ages 9 to 12, with complete information on sleep, and height and weight in the third grade and sixth grade.

The experts then analyzed the data about the sleeping patterns, sleep duration and body mass index (BMI) of participating children through survey responses given by their mothers. Of the total study subjects, 50 percent were male, 81 percent were white, and 18 percent were overweight by the time they reached the sixth grade.

After reviewing the data, the researchers found that those children who generally got less than nine hours of sleep were more likely to be overweight in Grade 6, regardless of their weight in Grade 3 and other factors like gender, race, socioeconomic status or quality of the home environment.

The researchers found that every additional hour of sleep in the sixth grade reduced a child’s risk of weight gain by 20 percent, while this additional hour of sleep in third grade resulted in a 40 percent decrease in the child’s risk of being overweight in sixth grade.

“Sleep may have a behavior impact on children,” said Lumeng. “In other words, children who are better rested may have more energy to get more exercise. For example, they may be more likely to go out and play, as opposed to lying on the couch watching TV. It also is possible that when children are tired, they may be more irritable or moody, and may use food to regulate their mood.”

The National Sleep Foundation recommends 11-13 hours daily sleep for Preschoolers, 10-12 hours for Elementary school students, 9 - 11 hours for Pre-teens and 8 ½ - 9 hours for Teens.

Obesity, an abnormal accumulation of body fat, is surely one of the biggest health problems being encountered in the world. Along with obesity come blood pressure problems, heart diseases etc.

American Obesity Association (AOA) has described the obesity on its Website as a complex, multi-factorial chronic disease involving environmental (social and cultural), genetic, physiologic, metabolic, behavioral and psychological components. It is the second leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.

Approximately 127 million adults in the United States are overweight, 60 million obese, and 9 million severely obese.