Lack Of Sleep Leads To Fatter Kids

[MJS]

Umm...okay.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21624572/

So, it looks like the thinking here, is that by having the kids get more sleep, they won't be as tempted to eat. Supposedly tired kids are less likely to exercies and more likely to eat.

IMO, this seems more like people trying to sugar coat why kids are over weight. Shouldn't have anything to do with lack of sleep, but instead lack of exercise and not eating right...all which stems from the parents, seeing that they should be watching what and how much their kids eat and make sure that they're active and not just sitting around watching tv or playing video games.


Thoughts?

 

[Jai]

I think its a load of crap. I was at my bet weight and general shape when I was getting less sleep. Like you said, its a poor excuse and a sugar coating for a deeper issue with why so many kids are over weight these days. Again I'll second the ideas that is lack of proper eating and exercise, not sleep.

 

[Kacey]

There've been a fair number of studies showing that sleep-deprived adults eat more to boost their energy; I see no reason why sleep-deprived kids wouldn't do the same.

I also note the following quotes:

“I’m not so sure we have enough information yet on cause and effect,” said Sheldon, who was not involved in the study.

Researchers used data from an existing federal study and focused on 785 children with complete information on sleep, and height and weight in the third grade and sixth grade. The children lived in 10 U.S. cities.

This is a very small sample size from which to extrapolate data.

Mothers were asked: “How much sleep does your child get each day (including naps)?” On average, the third-graders got about 9½ hours sleep, but some slept as little as seven hours and others as much as 12 hours.

Self-report is a notoriously inaccurate form of data collection - even when reporting for another person, especially in such a small sample size.

“I don’t want parents to think, ’If I get her to sleep, she’s not going to be overweight,”’ Mindell said. “I think this is a small piece in the picture.”

I can agree with this. Sleep does play a role in metabolism - but as this quote says, it is only a piece of the puzzle, and not necessarily a very large one, either.

 

[MJS]

Any other thoughts on this? I figured, seeing that alot of people tend to say that the kids today are overweight, that this'd be a more active thread.

 

[jim777]

785 kids is too small a sample size to come to any real conclusions on a population that likely apporaches 40+ Million. You wouldn't sample that many children from a single school and extrapolate that out to all the schools in the country, for example.

 

[Ray]

Any other thoughts on this? I figured, seeing that alot of people tend to say that the kids today are overweight, that this'd be a more active thread.

All I know is playing ball, tag, etc is more likely to burn calories than pushing the buttons on a game console. Besides, the kids who do play some physical activity aren't the ones staying up all night playing video game consoles and eating cheetos.

 

[Phoenix44]

25% of incoming kindergarteners--that means 4 and 5 year olds--in the New York City school system are OBESE, not just overweight.

IMO, there are a lot of reasons.

1. Soda: absolute garbage
2. Juice: absolute garbage with a few vitamins
3. High fructose corn syrup.
4. Fast food.
5. Advertising: they just can't sell it to you fast enough or cheap enough.
6. The parents are obese. Go try to convince a 300 lb parent that his 100 lb 6 year old is fat.
7. TV and video games.

 

[Jai]

Go try to convince a 300 lb parent that his 100 lb 6 year old is fat.

Very true, however there are exceptions. My oldest is 7 years old and already pushing 105lbs. HOWEVER she is also twice the height of just about every other kid in her grade. Does this study take into account height as well as weight? Or are they taking a number and saying if you are this age you should weight such and such lbs? I was so upset when I saw the headlines about this junk report I will say I never even wasted the time to read it. From what most are saying about how this study was conducted, I didn't miss much.