Sleeping a little can make child overweight, says a study.
Researchers at the University of Laval's faculty of medicine studied 422 grade school students ages 5-10, measuring each one's height, weight and waist size.
They put together information on children's lifestyle as well as their socio-economic status via phone interviews with parents .
Via body mass index measurement, the researchers discovered that 20% of the boys and 24% of the girls were overweight .
The risk of getting overweight is 3.5 times higher in children who sleep less than 10 hours a night compared to those who sleep 12 or more hours, so say the researchers.
Obesity and a lack of sleep have become important social issues. Between 1960 and 2000, obesity has doubled, at the same time as our having lost one to two hours sleep per night.
It seems contradictory that the solution to obesity is to get more sleep. It does of course mean that one should not be sedentary during non-sleeping hours, adequate exercise and a balanced diet are of course essential.
