According to a study from Temple University in Philadelphia (United States) presented in the journal Pediatrics, lack of sleep and an abnormal body clock are involved in the development of metabolic disorders and obesity in children.
For their research, the scientists monitored 37 children aged eight to eleven for 3 weeks, more than a quarter of whom were overweight or obese. During the first week of study, the children slept as usual. During the second week, their sleep times were lengthened or shortened, and during the third week these times were reversed.
Good sleep regulates hunger
The results showed that when children slept longer, they ate about 134 calories per day less and lost an average of 220g in three weeks.
If the fast food, sugary drinks, and physical inactivity are responsible for the vast majority of childhood obesity cases, lack of sleep would also have a negative effect on children’s eating behavior. “The findings of this study show that improving children’s nighttime sleep could have important effects on the prevention and treatment of obesity,” said study director Chantelle Hart. And to conclude, “the potential role of sleep should be examined in more depth.”
Diagnose obesity in children
Are you wondering about your child’s weight? Is he healthy or obese? How to verify? The diagnosis of obesity in adults is based on the body mass index (BMI). In the growing child, we use the curves of corpulence: they allow to compare the BMI of your cherub with that of children of the same age and the same sex. If its curve is above the mean reference curve, it means that it has a weight problem. You can download body curves on the website of the National Institute for Prevention and Education for Health (INPES).
