Children who lack sleep are at risk of obesity

According to a study published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine of the United States, babies and children who are not yet in school age if they do not have enough time at night will have a higher risk of obesity later. this.

US scientists at Washington University and the University of California conducted studies for 1,930 children from one month to 13 years old. They are divided into two groups: the first group is between one month and 59 months and the second group is 5-13 years old.

The data on these children were first collected in 1997 and the next in 2002. At the time of the second data collection, 33% of the children were in the first and 36% of the children in the group. Two are overweight or obese.

Among children in the first group, insufficient sleep at night increases the risk of obesity as they get older. For children in the second group, sleep duration has no relation to weight later.

However, the study also found that children who lack sleep at night at the time of the second data collection may increase the risk of moving from normal body weight to overweight and from overweight to obesity.

Scientists say there is an important " window period " before the age of five when night sleep is closely related to later weight status.

Previously, American scientists at the University of Michigan also found that adding one hour of sleep each night to a third-grader would reduce the risk of obesity for children when they reached grade 6.