Children who get an hour less sleep than the recommended amount are 58% more likely to be overweight

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Friday, November 19, 2010 3:25 pm Email this article
Children with shorter sleep duration, which was defined as roughly an hour less than the recommended amount of sleep, were 58% more likely to be overweight or obese than those who got the recommended amount of sleep according to a recent review by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Recommended Sleep

Recommended sleep by age

The recommended amount of sleep according to age is:

• at least 11 hours for children under the age of 5-years-old
• at least 10 hours for children 5- to 10-years-old
• at least 9 hours for children 10-years-old or older

 

Shorter Sleep Defined

Shorter sleep duration defined by age

Children with shorter sleep duration was defined as:

• 10-11 hours for children under the age of 5-years-old
• 9-10 hours for children 5- to 10-years-old
• 8-9 hours for children 10-years-old or older

REFERENCE

Chen X, Beydoun M, Wang Y. Is sleep duration associated with childhood obesity? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2008 Feb, 16(2):265-74.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

Youfa Wang
Department of International Health
Center for Human Nutrition
Bloomberg School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
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Articles on the same subject can be found here:

• Childhood Obesity

• Sleep