Children Lacking REM Sleep More Prone to Obesity
August 4th, 2008 | by admin |
A study finds that children who do not get enough REM sleep per night maybe at an increased risk of being overweight or obese.
Previous studies have shown that children who lack the proper amount of nightly sleep are prone to obesity but new research suggests that it is the REM part of sleep that is a must for children who hope to maintain a healthy body weight.
REM, or rapid eye movement sleep is the part of sleep that is associated with dreaming.
Researchers assessed the sleeping patterns of more than 330 children between 7 and 17 for 3 nights.
Those who were deemed overweight slept on average 22 minutes less than children of a healthy body weight, and spent much less time in the REM part of sleep.
The research team state that for those children who lose an hour of sleep per night, their risk of being overweight jumps 2 times.
“Our results demonstrated that the short sleep-obesity association may be attributed to reduced REM sleep,” said Dr. Xianchen Liu of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh.
The study was published in the August issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
