Children that consistently fail to get a good night's sleep on their beds could be at a greater risk of suffering from obesity and altered insulin levels, according to new research published in the journal Pediatrics. Researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of Louisville studied the sleep patterns of 308 children from 4 to 10 years of age, in order to investigate whether there was a correlation between short sleep duration, obesity and metabolic dysfunction in children. Compared to children with a normal weight, obese children were found to sleep for shorter periods each night and demonstrated a mixed sleep pattern at weekends compared to week days, the University of Chicago study found. Children who were overweight but not obese were also found to suffer from a mixed sleep pattern on their mattresses , while a high variance in sleep duration and shorter sleeping time was associated with altered insulin. The researchers concluded: "Obese children were less likely to experience 'catch-up' sleep on weekends, and the combination of shorter sleep duration and more-variable sleep patterns was associated with adverse metabolic outcomes. "Educational campaigns aimed at families, regarding longer and more-regular sleep may promote decreases in obesity rates and may improve metabolic dysfunction trends in school-aged children."
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