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Lack of sleep linked to fat kids
08/04/2008 09:12 - (SA)
Washington - Getting too little
sleep doubles a young child's risk of being overweight and
raises the chances of later anxiety and depression, researchers
said on Monday.
Several studies published in the journal Archives of
Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine add heft to the notion that
getting enough sleep has wide-ranging health benefits.
Previous studies have shown that older children and adults
who get too little sleep are more likely to weigh too much.
Researchers led by Dr Elsie Taveras of Harvard Medical School
demonstrated that this is also the case in very young kids.
In a study involving 915 children in Massachusetts, they
found that those who slept less than 12 hours a day in the
first two years of life were twice as likely to be overweight
at age three than children who slept longer.
Very young children need more sleep and those in this study
slept an average of 12.3 hours per day.
"There are consequences to children not sleeping well, even
at this age," Taveras said. "It's
going to be important to help parents learn how to improve the
quality of their children's sleep."
Television tended to make matters worse, with children who
watched two or more hours daily by age two more likely to be
overweight at age three, the researchers said.
Taveras said getting enough sleep is becoming harder with
televisions, computers and video games in kids' bedrooms.
The researchers said previous studies in adults and older
children have shown that restricting sleep changes certain
hormone levels, possibly stimulating hunger and weight gain.
Emotional fallout
Another team of researchers led by Alice Gregory of the
University of London examined the long-term emotional fallout
from too little sleep in childhood. They gathered sleep data on
2 076 Dutch children ages four to 16, and then questioned them as adults years later about various emotional and behavioural symptoms.
The children who slept less than others reported more
anxiety, depression and aggressive behaviour as adults, the
researchers said.
Researchers led by Valerie Sung of Royal Children's
Hospital in Parkville, Australia found that children with
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder commonly had sleep
problems.
Among 239 Australian children ages five to 18 years with ADHD
in the study, 73% had sleep problems. Their most common
problems were difficulty falling asleep, resisting going to bed
and tiredness upon waking, Sung said.
Compared to other children with ADHD but no sleep problems,
these children were more likely to have poorer quality of life
and daily functioning, as well as poorer school attendance.
Sung offered advice to families of children with ADHD.
"If you are worried about your child's sleep, ask your
doctor for help, and if help is not forthcoming, keep asking
and seek help from a specialist sleep clinic at your closest
children's hospital," Sung said by e-mail.
- Reuters
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