Lots of research has documented the deleterious effect a lack of sleep can have on the health of adults, specifically raising their risks of diabetes. Less sleep each night -- eight hours or less -- may also harm your kids, elevating their blood sugar and, eventually, raising their risk of diabetes.
Chinese scientists discovered the sleepy link to adult diabetes while observing the health of more than 600 obese children (ages 3-6), then comparing them to an equal number of kids who maintained a healthy weight and had no blood sugar issues. Overall, 47 percent of the obese kids monitored spent less time in the sack (eight hours or less per night), compared to non-obese patients (37 percent).
As a result, obese children who slept fewer hours were more than twice as likely to experience higher blood sugar levels. The lack of sleep, however, also harmed the health of the non-obese as well, elevating their blood sugar by a factor of 1.35. Possibly, the most telling statistic: Of the nearly 300 obese children who got less than eight hours of sleep each night, 49 patients experienced high blood sugar problems, more than double the number of overweight kids with elevated blood sugar who slept nine or 10 hours a night.
All the more reason to review our recent feature on improving your sleep habits and your child's.
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Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Vol. 164, No. 1, pp. 46-52, January 2010
Reuters.com January 11, 2010