For parents concerned that their preschoolers may one day gain excess weight, a study published Thursday suggests one strategy for keeping the little ones on track that isn't related to food: Tuck them in earlier.
Scientists reporting online in The Journal of Pediatrics found, in a study of not quite a thousand U.S. children, that preschoolers who got to bed by 8 p.m. were about half as likely as those who turned in after 9 p.m. to develop obesity in their teenage years.
Obesity continues to be a major health issue for children and teens in the United States, and many studies have shown that issues with sleep quality and duration can contribute to that risk, says Sarah Anderson, epidemiologist at the Ohio State University and lead author on the current research. But "there haven't been many studies that have looked at bedtime," Anderson says.
A child's bedtime is an important factor to examine because it's something a parent generally has some control over, says Lisa Medalie, director of the Pediatric Insomnia Program at the University of Chicago Medicine, whereas kids often have a fixed wakeup time because they have to get out the door in time for camp or school.
"Kids can get really fussy when you keep them up too late," Medalie says. "If they get too fussy and get overtired, then it actually makes it harder for them to sleep."