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09 Feb 2008
Sleep duration could play a vital part in children's risk of developing medical conditions such as obesity, latest research suggests.
According to a study by researchers at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, less sleep can increase a child's risk of becoming overweight or obese.
Published in the February edition of the journal of the Obesity Society, the study shows that a child reduced its risk of becoming obese by nine per cent with each additional hour they were asleep.
The study, which reviewed 17 published studies on sleep duration and childhood obesity, revealed that children with the shortest sleep duration had a 92 per cent higher risk of being overweight or obese compared to children who slept for longer periods.
"Our analysis of the data shows a clear association between sleep duration and the risk for overweight or obesity in children. The risk declined with more sleep," Youfa Wang, author of the study, explained.
"Our findings may also have important implications in societies where children do not have adequate sleep due to the pressure for academic excellence and where the prevalence of obesity is rising, such as in many East Asian countries," he added.
Current guidelines state that children under five should sleep for 11 hours or more per day, while children aged five to ten should sleep for ten hours or more per day.
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