May 30, 2011 08:14 GMT  ·  By
lack of sleep in infancy has been tied to an increased risk of obesity later on in life
   lack of sleep in infancy has been tied to an increased risk of obesity later on in life

According to the conclusions of a new, small-scale scientific study, it would appear that toddlers who lose sleep during the early years of their lives are more prone to becoming obese later in life.

The risk was found to be proportional to the amount of lost sleep, experts say. The study was carried out for several years on children in New Zealand. The researchers focused on kids aged 3, 4 and 5.

All the participants were again examined at age 7. All those who were found to sleep less than normal tended to have higher BMI (body mass indexes) than their peers. BMI is commonly used to measure body fatness, and is an element that physicians consider when assessing obesity.

One possible explanation for this correlation is that the body becomes too fatigued from sleep deprivation. Another idea experts proposed is that kids are awake for longer when they are not sleeping, and this is allowing them more time to eat.

Interestingly, the BMI differences that the experts found affected fat tissue, and not muscle tissue. The investigation accounted for other risk factors that may have skewed the results, such as the amount of physical activity each kid got, and the diet he or she was on.

Studies such as this one are extremely important for countries such as the Unites States, where obesity is on a rampage. The condition affects 34 percent of the population, with an additional third classified as overweight, My Health News Daily reports.

Children and adolescents in the country are also affected, with an estimated 17 percent of them suffering from obesity. This number has tripled from the last generation, official statistics show.

This drastic increase can easily be correlated with the generalized loss of sleep the population is subject too. The young ones are the most heavily affected, especially now when they have access to technology.

Cell phones, computers and other devices do an excellent job at keeping everyone up until late at night. Studies have shown that exposure to technology before sleep is detrimental to sleep quality. So, to recap, technology causes less sleep, and of a poorer quality.

As such, there's no wonder that investigators are finding negative correlations between sleep deprivation and obesity. “All we can say is kids who slept more had a reduced risk of obesity. We can't talk about thresholds,” says Chantelle Hart.

She holds an appointment as an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Brown University School of Medicine. Details of the work appear in the May 26 online issue of the British Medical Journal.