Enough sleep is indeed essential for all human beings and especially for children. They need to recover from all the wear and tear their body goes throughout the day. Even researchers from all over the world have analyzed the long term sleep effects on children.
There has always been a close connection between sleep and health and insufficient sleep patterns lead to obesity. There was a study done on the same to collect data from children and measured the health and sleeping patterns of children, nap times. The old data measured the height, weight, lean body mass, waist and hip circumference and abdominal fat. These two data sets were compared and defined that the sleep duration for children ages 6 months to 2 years need 12 hours of sleep every day. Children who are between the age of 3 and 4 need 10 hours of sleep every day and children between 5 and 7 years need less than 9 hours of sleep. When this data was compared, it was found that children who have a poor score of sleep duration have a high level of abdominal fat. This indicates obesity, regardless of age of the child.
The survey has reported some shocking data that less sleep is observed in the house with a low income or low educated mothers. This is very strong evidence and it advises all the children should get enough amount of sleep in their childhood which can reduce the risk of obesity and adiposity in children.
Most developed countries have an exploding record of childhood obesity and it is spreading like an epidemic all over. Less sleep can be one of main and important symptoms of child obesity and one needs to take serious steps and change the lifestyle of your child. It can have some connecting health issues in your kids, our body clock is set and it knows that it has to sleep at night and stay awake in the day. Sleep deprivation can send health signals to the body very soon.
In children:-
- Less sleep can mess thyroid and hormone levels which can affect many other things.
- Issues like diabetes, blood pressure, food cravings, and carbohydrates are closely connected to less sleep.
- Children can gain weight as their body is Leptin deficient and there is more food that is required to produce Leptin.
- A child can be treated with some medications or pills but that is not the permanent solution and concentrates on his diet. Children tend to watch TV and play video games till late night and then have trouble while sleeping.
All mothers should be keen about sleep patterns of the children. You just need to
- Set a bed time.
- Make a habit of turning off the TV and limit the access of video games.
- Avoid some basic things like bedtime snacks.
- Create good sleeping environment.
- Make sure that the temperature of the sleeping room is normal and not too hot or cold.
- Warm bath before bed can help get sound sleep.
Addressing the child obesity early when the kids are small is essential and the responsibility falls on the parents shoulder. If ignored, children may face some health issues when they are teenagers or adults.
