|
 That could be one reason they have a lower risk of childhood obesity
than peers with erratic schedules who watch lots of television, the
authors say.
While excessive screen time and insufficient sleep have long been
linked to obesity in adults, the current study offers fresh insight
into why these connections may hold true even in early childhood,
researchers note in the International Journal of Obesity.
Kids who had better emotional regulation at age 3 were less likely
to be obese by age 11 than children who weren't as good at
controlling their feelings and impulses, the study found.
"We found that 3-year-old children who had household routines around
bedtimes, mealtimes and screen time were more likely to also have
better emotion regulation," said lead study author Sarah Anderson, a
public health researcher at Ohio State University in Columbus.
"Both lack of a regular bedtime and poor emotion regulation
increased risk for later obesity," Anderson said by email. "These
two factors were independent of each other; the link between
bedtimes and obesity could not be explained away by a child's
inability to regulate their emotions," she noted.
For the study, researchers analyzed data on 10,955 kids born in the
UK from 2000 to 2002, including parents' descriptions of household
routines and children's behavior at age 3 as well as measurements of
kids' height and weight at age 11.
By age 11, about 6 percent of the kids were obese.
When they were 3 years old, 41 percent of children always had a
regular bedtime, 47 percent always had a regular mealtime and 23
percent were limited to no more than an hour of television or
video-watching time daily. All of these things were linked to better
emotional regulation, the study found.
The preschoolers had average emotional regulation scores of 2 out of
a possible 5 points. And each one-point decline in emotional
regulation at age 3 was associated with 38 percent higher odds of
obesity by age 11.
At the same time, inconsistent bedtimes at age 3 were independently
associated with 87 percent greater likelihood of obesity by age 11.
[to top of second column] |
Fewer than one in 10 kids had inconsistent mealtimes, and children
who always had a consistent meal routine were more likely than other
kids to also always have regular bedtimes.
Researchers expected to find irregular mealtimes associated with
obesity as well, but they found the opposite. Children who rarely if
ever had regular mealtimes at age 3 were less likely to be obese by
age 11.
The study isn't a controlled experiment designed to prove how
routines or emotional regulation directly influence the risk of
obesity in kids. The focus on children born over just a few years in
the UK also means the findings might not represent what would happen
for kids born at different times in other places, the authors note.
Still, the results highlight the health benefits of regular
bedtimes, said Dr. Sujay Kansagra, a pediatric sleep researcher at
Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina.
"Of course, it's also very likely that the same parents that are
able to implement schedules and routines have better self-regulation
themselves," Kansagra, who wasn't involved in the study, said by
email. "Therefore, their children may also benefit, either by
modeling their behavior or due to a genetic predisposition."
SOURCE: http://go.nature.com/2r0Lc63 International Journal of
Obesity, online April 24, 2017.
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
-Lincoln-IL/2831225863)
