Sleep Protects Children and Parents Against Obesity

Sleep is more important than you might think. Scientists have found that more parental sleep is related to more child sleep. This, in turn, is related to decreased childhood obesity.

Currently, researchers know that restorative sleep can help regulate metabolism, even though they're not sure exactly what mechanisms are involved. In fact, sleep is a protective factor in lowering the incidence of obesity in parents and being overweight in preschool children.

"Parents should make being well rested a family value and a priority," said Barbara H. Fiese, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Sleep routines I n a family affect all members of the household, not just children; we know that parents won't get a good night's sleep unless and until their preschool children are sleeping."

In order to learn a bit more about sleep, the researchers assessed socioeconomic characteristics in relation to protective routines and prevalence of being obese or overweight for 337 preschool children and their parents.

So what did the researchers find? It turns out that the only significant individual protective factor against obesity in children was getting adequate sleep. Children who didn't get enough sleep had a greater risk for being overweight, even after controlling for parents' BMI and socio-demographic characteristics. In addition, how much sleep parents received was related to how much children had.

The researchers suggest limiting children's exposure to TV and other electronic devices and to turn them off a half-hour before bedtime. In addition, spending some time in a calming, predictable routine can help children go to bed and receive the recommended 10 hours of sleep per night.

"We're learning more and more about how important it is to unplug for a half-hour or so before we go to bed," said Fiese in a news release. "At a certain time, turn off your electronic devices-even e-books-and engage in whatever soothing ritual helps you relax enough to sleep."

The findings reveal how important sleep is to both parents and children. By sticking to a schedule, parents can give their children a better opportunity to avoid obesity.

The findings are published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.