Does your child have an irregular sleep schedule? Attention! You may develop less healthy eating habits

Researchers from the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP), in a study of 5,286 children, concluded that children with irregular sleep schedules may be at risk of developing less healthy eating patterns.

In a statement, the University of Porto Institute today clarifies that the study, published in the Journal of Sleep Research, aimed to evaluate the influence, at the age of 4 years, of sleep duration, as well as bedtime and wake-up time, on adherence to less sleep. Healthy eating at 7 years old.

The study, led by researcher Sofia Vilela, was based on data from 5,286 children from the ISPUP Generation XXI “cohort”.

At 4 years of age, children were divided into two groups (based on recommendations from the American National Sleep Foundation): short night sleep (less than 10 hours) and night sleep of at least 10 hours. The researchers also created four categories regarding bedtime and wake-up time.

“Regardless of sleep duration, children who went to bed late at age 4 (after 9:45 p.m.) and rose late (after 8:00 a.m.) were more likely to eat a diet rich in energy-dense foods at age 7.” , says the study, which concludes that the effect is “more pronounced in boys.”

“In these cases, short sleep duration at age 4 was also associated with poorer nutrition at age 7,” he adds.

According to the study, later bedtimes and wake-up times “are predictors of less healthy eating habits in childhood.”

Preschool-age children who go to bed or wake up late “have a less healthy diet at age 7,” and in this case, the impact is also more negative for boys.

Quoted in the statement, researcher Sofia Vilela from the Associated Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Public Health Research emphasizes that “sleep timing showed stronger associations than sleep duration with obesity-inducing eating patterns.”

“The results of this study suggest that bedtime and wake-up time are important factors that should be considered by health professionals, parents and young people, even more so than total sleep duration,” he adds.