Early sleep can help fight child obesity
9 Nov nydailynews.com
Putting your kids to bed early may be a simple way to keep their
weight down, a new study has found. The study conducted by Chantelle
Hart, from the Temple University's Center for Obesity Research and
Education (CORE) is the first known study to examine the impact of sleep
on children's eating behaviours by manipulating the amount of sleep that
study participants were able to get.
The study involved 37 children, ages 8 to 11; 27 per cent of whom
were overweight or obese. For the first week of the study, children were
asked to sleep their typical amount.
During the second week, the group was randomised to either reduce or
lengthen their sleep time; participants completed the opposite sleep
schedule during the third and final week of the study.
During the week that the children increased their sleep, they
reported consuming an average of 134 fewer calories per day, weighed a
half pound less, and had lower fasting levels of leptin, a
hunger-regulating hormone that is also highly correlated with the amount
of adipose tissue, when compared to the week of decreased sleep.
"Findings from this study suggest that enhancing school-age
children's sleep at night could have important implications for
prevention and treatment of obesity," said Hart.
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