Cranky kids who don't get to bed early may also be packing on the pounds.
Every extra hour a third grader spends in bed--regardless of their size--slims the chance of a child being obese as a sixth grader.
To keep trim, third graders should get 9 hours and 45 minutes of sleep a night, according to researchers of a recent study.
Researchers are unable to explain exactly why sleep keeps little waistlines from expanding. But hunger hormones may be to blame.
Lack of sleep plays havoc with two hormones that are the "yin and yang of appetite regulation," said endocrinologist Eve Van Cauter of the University of Chicago, who was not involved in the new study.
In previous research Van Cauter and others have discovered that sleep-deprived adults produce more ghrelin, a hormone that promotes hunger, and less leptin, a hormone that signals fullness.
Another hypothesis to explain the sleepy weight gain: When kids are exhausted, they're less likely to jump around, play freeze tag and four square, and burn calories.
Sleepy kids would rather veg out on the couch.
Via AP
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