Did you know that children who don’t get the proper amount of sleep are at risk for obesity?  A study performed by Barbara Fiese, director of the Family Resiliency Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana, and reported at Webmd.com looked at children who had at least ten hours of sleep a night, consistent mealtime routines, no televisions in bedrooms and screen time limited to two hours a day.  As important as all these conditions are, an adequate amount of sleep was found to be the most important factor in a child having a healthy weight.

Adults were also studied and found to need at least seven hours of sleep a night as well as consistent mealtimes, to keep their body weight at a healthy level.

Additionally, when parents respected and valued their own sleep needs, it had a positive effect on the number of hours their children slept.

When you make sleep hygiene an important part of your healthy lifestyle, everyone wins!

 

What about you?  Do you feel you get the proper amount of sleep needed everyday?