April 25, 2017
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Consistent bedtimes at age 3 years may reduce obesity risk

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Children with inconsistent bedtimes and poor emotional self-regulation at age 3 years may have a higher risk for obesity at age 11 years compared with children with consistent bedtimes and better emotional self-regulation.

“We analyzed data from a large longitudinal study of children in the United Kingdom to determine how young children’s experiences of household routines relate to their self-regulation and how together routines and self-regulation at age 3 predict risk for obesity at age 11,” Sarah E. Anderson, PhD, of the division of epidemiology, College of Public Health at The Ohio State University, told Endocrine Today. “Three-year-old children who had regular bedtimes and were better able to regulate their emotions were less likely to be obese as 11-year-olds.”

Sarah E. Anderson
Sarah E. Anderson

Anderson and colleagues evaluated data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study on 10,955 children to determine the association between self-regulation and exposure to household routines of regular bedtime, regular mealtime and limits on watching television/video and to determine whether self-regulation and routines predict the risk for obesity at age 11 years.

Parents reported whether their children had a regular bedtime and mealtime as well as the amount of television/video watched when they were aged 3 years. The Children’s Social Behavior Questionnaire was also completed to determine emotional and cognitive self-regulation when children were aged 3 years. Children were re-evaluated at age 11 years for height and weight; the International Obesity Task Force criteria were used to define obesity.

At age 3 years, 41.4% of children had a regular bedtime, 46.6% had regular mealtimes and 23.1% had daily television/video viewing of 1 hour or less. At age 11 years, 6% of children had obesity, and the condition was more common among children at lower levels of parental education and household income. Children with no siblings or many siblings were more likely to have obesity compared with children with one sibling at age 3 years.

In adjusted models, obesity at age 11 years was more common among children with inconsistent bedtimes compared with those with a regular bedtime (OR = 2.18; 95% CI, 1.7-2.79) and among children with highest television/video viewing times compared with those with viewing restricted to 1 hour (OR = 1.39; 95% CI, 1.03-1.88). Cognitive self-regulation and regular mealtimes were not associated with obesity at age 11 years, whereas poorer emotional self-regulation predicted obesity (P < .001 in univariate analyses).

Obesity at age 11 years was associated with inconsistent bedtimes (OR = 1.87; 95% CI, 1.39-2.51) and poorer emotional self-regulation (OR = 1.38; 95% CI, 1.11-1.71) in the fully adjusted analysis.

“This research builds on prior studies showing the importance for children of having a regular bedtime routine,” Anderson told Endocrine Today. “Children who have a regular bedtime routine also have earlier bedtimes, sleep more, fall asleep faster, have fewer nighttime awakenings, and are less likely to have behavior problems. Obesity prevention efforts are increasingly focused on early childhood. To be effective, early childhood obesity prevention strategies must find a way to support parents, especially those with limited socioeconomic resources, to introduce and maintain consistent bedtimes and other home routines, as well as help children regulate emotions and respond to stress.” – by Amber Cox

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.