Lack of sleep and sleep-related breathing problems appear to boost children's risk of obesity, a new study finds.
What isn't clear from the study, however, is whether the sleep issues actually cause obesity, or if something else might explain the association between sleep problems and obesity.
Researchers analyzed data from about 1,900 youngsters in England. The researchers had about 15 years of follow-up on the children. Those who got the least amount of sleep at ages 5 and 6 had between a 60 percent and 100 percent increased risk of being obese at age 15. (For children aged 5 or 6, fewer than 10.5 hours of sleep a night is considered too little, according to the researchers.)
Children who got too little sleep at other ages were not at increased risk for obesity, according to the study.
[For more of this story go to http://consumer.healthday.com/...-obesity-694519.html]
Comments (0)