HHS HealthBeat (November 12, 2007)

Too little sleep, too much weight

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Regularly running short on sleep can make a kid gain weight. Researchers found that in a look at data from the National Institutes of Health. Julie Lumeng of the University of Michigan compared the amount of sleep kids got in the third grade with their weight in the sixth grade. Her study was in the journal Pediatrics.

``Children who were getting less sleep in the third grade were more likely to be overweight three years later in sixth grade, compared to the children who were getting more sleep.’’ (7 seconds)

Lumeng says that, for each added hour of sleep, the risk of overweight later falls about 40 percent.  It’s another reason for kids to get enough sleep. And, Lumeng says, no TV in the bedroom – it makes it harder for the kid to go to sleep.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May, 26 2008