More sleep for younger kids means less chance of becoming

obese, study finds

January 24, 2011|By Mary Forgione, Tribune Health

If you hate enforcing bedtime with your kids, here's another good reason why you should. A
new study suggests that younger children who get more regular sleep are less likely to be
obese.

The study from researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Louisville looked
at 308 children from 4 to 10 years old. They tracked the kids' sleep time for a week via wrist
monitors and calculated their body mass index, a standard measurement based on weight and
height. The researchers also did blood work to measure glucose and insulin levels in some
children.

Some of the findings:

Regardless of their weight, children slept on average eight hours a night. (The National
Institutes of Health recommend nine hours a night.)

Children could "catch up" if they missed out by sleeping more over the weekend.

Obese children got less sleep and experienced "a mixed sleep pattern."

"Children whose sleep patterns were at the lower end of sleep duration particularly in the
presence of irregular sleep schedules, exhibited the greatest health risk," the
study’s abstract says. The study was published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

Bottom line: Regular sleep for children might make a difference in keeping them at a healthy
weight. But how you wrestle them into bed is still up to you.

Source:

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/24/news/la-heb-sleep-children-20110124
Reaction:

After I read this article I found out that kids who sleep enough have fewer tendencies to be
obese. I was surprised as I read this article and was corrected with my belief that kids who sleep more
have the highest probability of being obese. As what we all know obesity is one of the most common
problems that are encountered not only to Filipinos but also from all the people around the world.
Obesity is a state of being malnourished wherein there is an excessive fat stored in the body as seen in
people who are obese. As what we have seen in the movie “wall-e” all the human where obese as what
we know in layman’s term as “FAT”. Being obese can hinder an individual from doing and acting
naturally like engaging in sports like basketball, soccer of other sports that require an individual to be
physically fit. Obesity means less physical movements and can lead to major autoimmune complications
more commonly on Diabetes Mellitus. So parents should keep their children physically fit and properly
nourished.

Children should be healthy and should stay healthy because it is in the developmental years the
child attains strong in immune system and being physically fit when having enough sleep and rest.
Having a healthy body gives a child the best of what he / she can have like having good memory, fit
body, and talents and being obese may hinder those things. Also enough sleep can give proper brain
development of a growing child. Although kids are hard to put to bed sometimes because of their raging
personalities but it is on the parent’s ability to put them to bed. This study can also correct the old
thinking of mothers that too much sleep can lead to obesity on children and they should promote
enough sleep and rest. Not only they should give proper sleep and rest to children but also give them
proper food, nutrition and emotional support to give the best care a parent could give.
 University of Cebu
Lapu-lapu and Mandaue

A.C. Cortes Ave.

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