Does Sleep Deprivation Make Children Fat?
Young people are not immune to the sleep-straining pressures of modern life. With an ever-increasing list of commitments, children have been getting less and less sleep in recent years. Meanwhile, obesity in childhood has become increasingly common. Short sleep can increase the risk of obesity and, in turn, the risk of disease in adulthood. Dr. Currie and Dr. Cappuccio of Warwick Medical School in the UK recently published a research review in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases linking sleep deprivation to childhood obesity. Research Associates Short Sleep with Obesity One study found that children who didn’t get enough sleep at 30 months of age (fewer than 10.5 hours a night) were 45% more likely to be obese at age 7 than 30-month-olds who slept for at least 12 hours a night. In a study of about 6,800 German children between 5 and 6 years of age, those who slept for less than 10.5 hours a night were more likely to be obese. A study of 383 adolescents aged 11-16 found th
