Lack of sleep blamed for child obesity
31 March 2006, 07:12
London - The less children sleep the fatter they become, researchers report.
Hectic parental lifestyles and lax bedtimes for their offspring could be driving the explosion in child obesity, they say.
A study of 422 children aged between five and 10 found one in five of the boys and one in four of the girls was overweight or obese.
On average, the children slept for 12 to 13 hours a night. But those who slept for 10,5 to 11,5 hours a night had a 40 percent greater risk of becoming overweight or obese.
In those who slept for eight to 10 hours a night, the risk was increased more than threefold.
The findings are published in the International Journal of Obesity. The researchers from Laval University, Quebec, Canada say the risk factors of long television watching, physical inactivity and parental obesity applied to the children in the study.
But the effect of lack of sleep was independent of these.
"These findings are important because sleep duration is a potentially modifiable risk factor that could be important to consider in the prevention and treatment of obesity," they say.
The researchers describe their findings as "provocative" given that the best way of losing weight is to increase activity, and having extra sleep means less activity.
However, separate laboratory studies have shown that short sleep duration is associated with decreased levels of leptin and increased levels of ghrelin, two hormones that play a key role in hunger and appetite.
Changes in the two hormones caused by lack of sleep could alter food intake over time and explain why individuals put on weight, the researchers say.
The results suggest a "dose-response" relationship between lack of sleep and being overweight.
The researchers conclude: "Reduction in sleeping hours has become a hallmark of our society. If the findings prove to be reproducible... we could add sleep duration to the environmental factors that... contribute to weight gain and obesity." - The Independent
Hectic parental lifestyles and lax bedtimes for their offspring could be driving the explosion in child obesity, they say.
A study of 422 children aged between five and 10 found one in five of the boys and one in four of the girls was overweight or obese.
On average, the children slept for 12 to 13 hours a night. But those who slept for 10,5 to 11,5 hours a night had a 40 percent greater risk of becoming overweight or obese.
In those who slept for eight to 10 hours a night, the risk was increased more than threefold.
The findings are published in the International Journal of Obesity. The researchers from Laval University, Quebec, Canada say the risk factors of long television watching, physical inactivity and parental obesity applied to the children in the study.
But the effect of lack of sleep was independent of these.
"These findings are important because sleep duration is a potentially modifiable risk factor that could be important to consider in the prevention and treatment of obesity," they say.
The researchers describe their findings as "provocative" given that the best way of losing weight is to increase activity, and having extra sleep means less activity.
However, separate laboratory studies have shown that short sleep duration is associated with decreased levels of leptin and increased levels of ghrelin, two hormones that play a key role in hunger and appetite.
Changes in the two hormones caused by lack of sleep could alter food intake over time and explain why individuals put on weight, the researchers say.
The results suggest a "dose-response" relationship between lack of sleep and being overweight.
The researchers conclude: "Reduction in sleeping hours has become a hallmark of our society. If the findings prove to be reproducible... we could add sleep duration to the environmental factors that... contribute to weight gain and obesity." - The Independent
- This article was originally published on page 7 of The Cape Times on March 21, 2006
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