Lack of Sleep in Children and Infants | Problems of Becoming Obese

A new study says that children sleeping for less than ten hours a day, stand a bigger chance of becoming overweight by the age of 6 years. Universite de Montreal, who led the research, has discovered that 30% of kids in the age bracket of six months to six years experience problems to sleep for 6 hours continuously.

Either they have difficulties in falling asleep or they can not stay asleep for that period of time.

One quarter of the kids would have a predisposition to becoming hyperactive and overweight.

The causative factor, is, an alteration in the secretion of hormones that, occurs due to a lack of adequate sleep.

Jacques Montplasir, professor in the Psychiatry Department at Sacre-Coeur hospital, said that when we sleep less, our stomach secretes increased amounts of a hormone that fuels our appetite.

Also, insufficient sleep causes the body to produce lesser amounts of the hormone that decreases appetite. He has also stated that, 26% of children (in the age group of 2.5-6 years) who get less than 10 hours of sleep every night are overweight.

1138 children were studied and subjected to clinical trials.  Results showed that 26% kids who did not sleep well were overweight while 18.5% kids carried extra weight. About 7.4% of them were obese.

Further, the research reveals that inadequate sleep and rest can make the child hyperactive and restless.

Health tip for Sleeping Problems Children’s

The benefits of this are multi-fold.

Sleep well! :

An inadequate sleep can cause immense harm to your body. Sufficient sleep for a period of 8-10 hours is of absolute essence to be physically and mentally fit.

Watch out for these:

  1. Inadequate sleep makes you crave for junk food. As a consequence you become fat and obese. People who do not sleep well for 2 successive nights, show higher levels of hormone ghrelin, (a hormone which stimulates your appetite) and lower levels of hormone leptin (which suppresses the appetite). Hence the body makes a bigger demand for a greater number of calories.
  2. Inadequate sleep affects the immune system adversely. Deficient sleep causes a rise in the level of C-reactive protein. This protein is directly responsible for cardiac disorders and a host of immune malfunctions. People who do not get adequate sleep are more prone to influenza, allergies, and viral infections. Weakened immune mechanisms could also lead to several heart diseases, stroke and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
  3. Poor sleep makes you stressed and exhausted. Less sleep increases the level of hormone cortisol, (a stress hormone), within the body, which in turn results in raised blood pressure, and cardiac disorders.
  4. A body that has not received enough sleep, develops a resistance to insulin. Hence glucose metabolism is grossly affected and you could develop type 2 diabetes mellitus.

November 29, 2009 | Filed Under Health Research and News  
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