Sleep well to stop adding those inches

While obesity in children is a major cause for worry globally, a study suggests that sleep deprivation is one of the major contributing factors.

In a study about the sleeping pattern in adolescents, conducted by a city-based paediatrician, Dr Preethi Galagali, it was found that only about 15% of children, between 12 and 18 years of age in the city, get adequate sleep, while the rest are sleep deprived.

Galagali, consultant pediatrician, Chord Road Hospital and a member of Indian Academy of Pediatrics, is at present doing a study on sleep patterns of city adolescents. “Though my study is yet to be analysed in depth, the data till now shows that only 10 to 15% of adolescents in Bangalore get the required hours of sleep,” she said.

Another recent study published in the American journal Paediatrics, states that children who go to bed early on weekend nights get a chance to catch up on the sleep they do not get throughout the week and tend to be thinner. This study was done by researchers at the University of Chicago.

They monitored 308 children from four to 10 years of age, measuring the body mass index (BMI) of each and examined their sleep patterns using wrist movement sensors.

The children averaged eight hours of sleep every night throughout the week. However, over weekends the obese children had shorter and more irregular sleep patterns.

Those with poorer weekend sleep patterns had worse health in terms of higher insulin levels — that can lead to Type II diabetes over a prolonged period — higher levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol, and higher levels of C-reactive protein that has been linked with heart disease in later life, said the study.

In the Indian scenario, doctors are of the opinion that both children and adolescents are sleep deprived. And what is the required quota of sleep?

“While children between four and 10 years of age require 10 hours of sleep, those between 10 and 18 years of age should sleep for at least nine hours. However, my study shows that most of the adolescents sleep no more than seven hours,” said Galagali.

Sleep is one of the dominant factors leading to obesity, other reasons being poor lifestyle, increased intake of junk food, increased TV viewing and internet games.

“Sleep deprivation leads to an increase of stress hormones in the body, thus causing mood swings, aggression and lack of concentration among children,” added Galagali. Most of the children are compromising on their sleep at the cost of unhealthy repercussions in later life like diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol and blood pressure.

According to Dr Chandrashekhar HB, head of department, Sleep Lab, Mahaveer Jain Hospital, obese people tend to have disturbed sleep.

“I get to see several cases of obstructive sleep apnea, where people who snore, develop choking spells while sleeping. And most of them are found to be obese,” he said.

Sleep apnea affects around two per cent of the adult population and is reasonably common among children too. However, it is treatable, he added.

“Sleep deprivation can affect cognitive skills, memory and learning ability of children,” he said. Again lack of adequate sleep can lead to generation of leptin hormone that causes obesity, he added.