'Tummy Tuck' Your Kids In

I read this article in The New York Times, and thought I would share it with you. The article summarizes the results of a study of 519 seven-year-olds.

Study Results

The study found that 7-year-olds that slept less than nine hours every night were:

• More likely to be overweight or obese and
• More likely to have mood swings.

The study also found no correlation with sleep deprivation and:

• I.Q. scores or
• Measures of ADHD.

This study should be very helpful to parents as they try to:

• Prevent their children from becoming overweight or
• Help their overweight/obese children lose weight.

My Childhood

The study results bring me back to my own childhood. Growing up, I did not sleep much. I used to stay awake:

• Studying,
• Watching television,
• Playing video games, or
• Waiting for my hard-working mother to come home from work.

There are many reasons why I was an overweight child and sleep deprivation was probably one of them.

Strategies for Parents

As parents there are many strategies you can use to help your children get more sleep. They probably will not be very happy with these strategies, but when are children ever happy with things that are good for them.

Try these strategies:

• Set a ‘bed time’ and a ‘wake time’ for your children that is at least 9 hours a part. You must enforce both the ‘bed time’ and the ‘wake time’.
• Enforce the nine hour sleep rule everyday, including weekends and school breaks.
• Read a bed time story to your children to help them fall asleep.
• Take the television, DVD players, computers, lap-tops, cell phones, I-pods, video games, and any other sleep distracters out of your children’s bedrooms.
• Ensure that there is no noise inside or outside of your children’s room that would prevent them from sleeping soundly.

Help your kids get more sleep to keep them healthy and prevent mood swings.

Sources:

The New York Times

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