Sitting down to a family meal, ensuring your child doesn’t watch too much TV, and that they get a good nights sleep! All great ideas, but sometimes it can be hard to get it all done.
A new study out of Ohio State University has just linked all three habits together with a 40% reduction in childhood obesity rates!
Other studies have looked at these activities singularly, but this is the first study that has looked at the three habits in a national sampling of 8550 US preschoolers born in 2001.
Image Courtesy of andrea pi
The study criteria for family meals, sleep and television were as follows:
- Eating a family meal more than 5 times per week
- Sleeping at least 10 1/2 hours per night
- Watching less than 2 hours of television per day
It does seem logical that families who will take the time and commitment to foster these routines are likely going to be taking an active interest in the health of their children.
It’s worth noting that these routines alone will not protect all children – an indicator that there are other factors that come into play when looking at the issue of childhood obesity. However, children with higher risk factors for childhood obesity were able to overcome the odds when these habits were a part of their family life! Great news.
Risk factors for Childhood Obesity:
- Mothers who are Obese
- Household Income Below the Poverty Line
- Mothers who have not finished High School
- Growing Up in a Single-Parent Home
Encouraging News:
56% of families studied have meals together at least 6 nights a week.
57% of families reported their preschoolers are sleeping 10.5 hours per week.
To read the full report:
Family Meals, Adequate Sleep and Limited TV May Lower Childhood Obesity.
{ 5 comments… add one }
Well, I think we’re doing OK with 2 out of 3, we do watch too much TV at our house, probably not more than 3 hours a day for the kids. But they do get a lot of sleep and we eat together every night.
I’m stopping by so late from last week’s VGNO, it’s almost embarrassing, but hey, I’ll probably see you tomorrow night too!
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Obesity is a growing health problem these days because people are too lazy to do some extra exercise and they eat too much. i always exercise and do cardio regularly to maintain a healthy weight.
Obesity is really an epidemic these days. People have become very lazy and does not want to exercise anymore. I do a lot of jogging and brisk walking everyday just to be fit and healthy.
here in Philippines, obesity is also becoming a problem. More and more children are getting obese due to a lifestyle that is not fully of physical activities. most kids just wants to watch TV, play computer games and surf the net.
Obesity and diabetes are becoming more and more of a problem these days. Actually it is easy to avoid being overweight by just having the proper diet and exercise.