Study: Less Sleep Ups Obesity Risk

WebMD
March 31, 2006
4:00pm EST
Link

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Kids today tend to sleep less and weigh more than their peers growing up just a few decades ago. Now intriguing new research suggests this is no coincidence.

The survey of grade-schoolers in Quebec showed that the less the children slept, the more likely they were to become overweight.

Children who routinely got 10 hours or less of sleep a night had almost 3.5 times the risk than those who got 12 hours or more. Lack of sleep was a bigger risk factor for overweight and obesity in the study than any other known contributor, including parental obesity, family income, or time spent in front of the television or computer.

Although the observational findings must be confirmed in clinical trials, study co-author Angelo Tremblay, Ph.D., says the evidence that sleep deprivation plays a role in obesity is mounting.

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Maybe kids who get lots of exercise get tired and need more sleep.

12 hours seems like a lot, though.

Kids need a lot more sleep than adults. 12 hours might seem like a lot for you and me, but I remember when I was in middle school, even with 8 hours of sleep I was exhausted - if I was allowed on the weekends, I would sleep for 12 hours easy.

and play nintendo or puter stuff.