Research News: Sleep may curb obesity in kids

The News:
Sleep may curb obesity in kids
More slumber cut risk in study
By Carla K. Johnson The Associated Press
Article Launched: 11/05/2007 01:00:00 AM MST
CHICAGO — Here's another reason to get the kids to bed early: More sleep may lower their risk of becoming obese.
Researchers have found that every additional hour per night that a third-grader spends sleeping reduces the chances of being obese in sixth grade by 40 percent.
The less sleep they got, the more likely the children were to be obese in sixth grade, no matter what the weight in third grade, said the University of Michigan's Dr. Julie Lumeng, who led the research.
If there was a magic number, it was nine hours, 45 minutes of sleep. Third-graders who slept more than that lowered the risk significantly.
The study gives parents one more reason to enforce bedtimes, restrict caffeine and yank the TV from the bedroom. The study appears in the November issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Lack of sleep plays havoc with two hormones that are the "yin and yang of appetite regulation," said endocrinologist Eve Van Cauter of the University of Chicago, who was not involved in the study.

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Pediatrics.