Children who sleep less tend to eat more, thus causing excessive weight gain, a study stated.

It is a known fact that sleep is essential for good health. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), insufficient sleep is linked to the development of chronic diseases including diabetes, depression, and obesity.

To determine whether lack of sleep leads to obesity, researchers from Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London analyzed the nighttime sleep duration, food responsiveness (the act of eating more), and body mass index standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) of 1008 children in Geneva.

Aside from examining food responsiveness, researchers also studied whether sleep duration is associated with homeostatic eating (eating enough), also referred to as satietyresponsiveness (SR).

The findings of the University College London study which were recently published in the International Journal of Obesity stated that there is a correlation between shorter nighttime sleep and higher food responsiveness among children, which results in greater weight.

The researchers stated that the results may account for how the brain works. “Sleep deprivation increases activity in brain reward centers in response to images of palatable food, as well as ‘desire to eat,’” they explained.

CDC also explained that insufficient sleep in children may adversely affect the hypothalamus, the part of the brain which regulates appetite and energy expenditure, thereby causing excess body weight.

However, results showed that shorter sleep has no association with homeostatic eating or SR, but rather affects children’s hedonic eating (act of eating for pleasure) which causes excessive rather than restrained eating.

In order to have good and sufficient sleep, CDC advised people who are sleep deprived to keep a diary of sleep habits with notes on the time they go to bed, wake up, take naps, exercise, and consume alcohol or caffeinated beverages. This record will help the patient and his physician analyze sleep patterns and determine the necessary intervention.

“It’s important to practice good sleep hygiene [good sleeping habits], but if your sleep problems persist, you should seek evaluation and treatment by a physician,” CDC emphasized.

Further information on the study entitled “Nighttime sleep duration and hedonic eating in childhood,” access http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v39/n10/full/ijo2015132a.html. ■