Here’s another incentive for tucking your kids into bed at a decent hour: new research suggests preschoolers who have a solid sleep schedule are “far less likely” to be overweight or obese as teenagers.
The Ohio State University doctors behind the research even have an ideal bedtime: 8 p.m.
“For parents, this reinforces the importance of establishing a bedtime routine,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Sarah Anderson, said.
“It’s something concrete that families can do to lower their child’s risk and it’s also likely to have positive benefits on behaviour and on social, emotional and cognitive development,” Anderson said.
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The new research is timely: childhood obesity rates in Canada in 2013 sat at 27 per cent – Canadian children are still heavier than World Health Organization norms with a heavier weight and greater BMI.
Health officials are pulling together recommendations to combat obesity. Anderson and her team say their findings arm pediatricians with evidence-based advice for parents.
Their study is based on data from nearly 1,000 kids who were part of a study that followed healthy babies born in 10 U.S. sites in 1991.
The kids were divided into three categories: preschoolers who went to bed at 8 p.m. or earlier, between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. and after 9 p.m.
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The kids were about 4.5 years old. Half of the kids fell into the middle category while a quarter had early bedtimes and a quarter went to bed the latest.
When the team looked at the preschoolers’ bedtimes next to their weight at age 15, they uncovered a striking finding: only one in 10 of the kids tucked in early were obese as teens.
But 16 per cent of kids who went to bed between 8 and 9 p.m. fell into the obese category, while 23 per cent of those who went to bed the latest were obese, too.
But the scientists wanted to know what the household environment was like. They relied on videotaped playtime between mom and baby to measure maternal support, respect for the child’s autonomy and making sure there were no meltdowns before bedtime.
Turns out, it didn’t seem to matter what the maternal-child relationship was like. But the kids who went to bed the latest and had moms who rated low in “sensitivity scoring” faced the highest obesity risk.
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(Later bedtimes were most common in kids who were not white, who had moms with less education or who lived in low-income neighbourhoods.)
There’s a library of research on how irregular sleep tampers with weight. Lack of sleep throws your hormones off balance, so if you aren’t sleeping well, your metabolism takes a hit, along with your eating routine.
Establishing a set routine at home is important for preschoolers, too.
“Having the same routine every night is important so children know what to expect. Kids do well with a schedule and a routine. They do better with that than one night they go to bed at 8 p.m., another night they go to bed at 9 p.m.,” Dr. Meena Khan, a sleep medicine specialist at the university, said.
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Anderson said she chose to zero in on sleep time over daytime factors because a tuck-in time is something parents have control over.
Carve out a concrete bedtime routine – kids may not fall asleep immediately, but the pattern will help them get into habit, they say.
The majority of kids are biologically wired to be ready to fall asleep “well before” 9 p.m.
But the experts concede, they didn’t take into account other factors that could affect weight gain, such as how the kids were eating and how often they were exercising.
Their research was published in the Journal of Pediatrics.
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
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