(Friday, 27 May HealthDay News) - young people who are not enough sleep on a regular basis are more likely to be overweight, a new study has found.
Conversely, when the children got more Shut, they had a reduction in body mass index (BMI) and a significant fall in their risk of being overweight, the researchers found. Investigators also found a lower BMI has led to differences in the FAT (no effect on free fat, such as muscle mass), indicating what the poor sleep has negative effects on body composition.
The study, Rachael Taylor, an associate professor of research in the Department of human nutrition at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand and his colleagues followed 244 children from the age of 3 years to 7 years.
Every six months for the children of weight, height, BMI and body composition were measured, and their sleep and food habits were recorded. Children were also accelerometers (devices that monitor the movements of the body) to assess their level of physical activity. Other factors known to be associated with BMI in children were also taken into account, such as the weight of the birth of children and their mother, education and income level.
The study, published online may 26 in BMJ, revealed that children have an average of 11 hours of sleep per day. Those who slept systematically less, however, had an increased risk of having a BMI greater than the time where they turned age of 7 years. In contrast, among the 3-5 years, each extra hour of sleep per night was related to a reduction in BMI of 0.49 and a 61 per cent decrease in the risk of being overweight or obese by the age of 7.
Taylor and his colleagues concluded that sleep plays a critical role in the composition of the body of the child. Prolonged lack of sleep, they have found, can cause children to eat more and exercise less. Based on these results, the authors of the study suggest that good sleep habits should be encouraged among children as a matter of public health.
However, further research is needed to determine if more sleep or sleeping better models contribute to healthier children, they noted in a press release of the newspaper.
More information
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more information on childhood obesity.
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