Lack of sleep can cause child obesity

Children who sleep less than nine hours a night are at significantly increased risk of obesity and related problems.

A recent study in New Zealand found that children suffering sleep-deprivation were more likely to gain excess weight and possibly to be come obese.

A study conducted at the University of Auckland following the sleeping patterns of 51 children from birth to seven-years-old and found that those sleeping fewer than nine hours a night had 3% more body fat than those sleeping over nine hours.

Children who slept fewer hours were also at a higher risk of being emotionally volatile.

Lead researcher, Ed Mitchell, said that, “sleep is important for health and well-being throughout life.

“Short sleep duration was associated with a threefold increased risk of the child being overweight or obese.

“This effect was independent of physical activity or television watching. Attention to sleep in childhood may be an important strategy to reduce the obesity epidemic.”

The study also found that children slept an average 10.1 hours per day, but that sleep was less during summer and at weekends.

Ed Mitchell added: “Few studies have objectively measured sleep duration. In this large study of sleep in seven-year-olds, there was considerable variation in duration of sleep.

“Sleep duration was 40 minutes longer in winter than summer and was 31 minutes longer on weekdays than on the weekend.”