Children who sleep less than 10 hours per night are 1.9 times more likely to be obese

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Thursday, May 01, 2008 1:07 pm Email this article
Children who get less than 10 hours of sleep are 1.9 times more likely to be obese than children sleep at least 10 hours per night according to a new meta-analysis of 12 previous studies done worldwide. The reason for this is thought to be because short sleep changes levels of the hormones leptin and ghrelin which in turn increase appetite and increase the risk of obesity. Studies

Studies included 12 on children, 17 on adults

Their analysis included 12 studies on children for a total of 30,002 children who ranged from 2- to 20-years-old.

In children, 7 out of 11 studies showed an association between short sleep and an increased risk of being obese.

In adults, 17 out of 22 population samples that were included in the 17 studies showed an association between short sleep and an increased risk of being obese.

“Unlike studies in children, all studies in adults showed a consistent and significant negative association between hours of sleep and BMI [ body mass index ],” the press release for the study noted.

 

Sleep Recommendations

Sleep recommendations : Pre-school children 11-13 hours per night, school children 10-11 hours, adolescents 9 hours

“It is recommended that infants (three to 11 months) get 14 to 15 hours of nightly sleep, while toddlers get 12 to 14 hours, children in pre-school 11-13 hours and school-aged children between 10-11 hours,” the press release for the study notes.

“Adolescents are advised to get 9 hours of nightly sleep and adults 7 to 8 hours.”

REFERENCE

Cappuccio FP, Taggart FM, Kandala N-B, Currie A, Peile E, Stranges S, Miller MA. Meta-analysis of short sleep duration and obesity in children and adults. Sleep. 2008 May 1, 31(5):619-26.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

Francesco P Cappuccio MD MSc FRCP, FFPH FAHA
Cephalon Chair
Cardiovascular Medicine & Epidemiology
Clinical Sciences Research Institute
Warwick Medical School
UHCW Campus
Clifford Bridge Road
Coventry CV2 2DX, UK
+44 24 7696 8662 phone;
+44 24 7696 8660 fax
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Articles on the same subject can be found here:

• Sleep