Is your child struggling to sleep? They might be at a higher risk of developing diabetes

Children who do not get enough sleep at night are at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a study warns. Researchers at St George’s University of London in the UK analysed the body measurements, blood sample results and questionnaire data from 4,525 children of multi-ethnic descent, aged 9 to 10 years, in the UK. Research shows that among adults, sleeping for less than 6 hours can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.

They found that children who slept longer had lower body weight and lower levels of fat mass. Sleep duration was also inversely related to insulin, insulin resistance and blood glucose. The National Health Service (NHS) in the UK recommends a sleep duration of 10 hours for a 10-year-old. “These findings suggest increasing sleep duration could offer a simple approach to reducing levels of body fat and type 2 diabetes risk from early life,” said Christopher G Owen, professor at St George’s University of London.



“Potential benefits associated with increased sleep in childhood may have implications for health in adulthood,” he said. Increasing the mean weekday sleep duration (10.5 hours) by half an hour could be associated with a 0.1 kilogramme per square metre lower body mass index (BMI) and a 0.5 per cent reduction in insulin resistance, researchers said. Reducing these levels may have longer-term implications for reduced type 2 diabetes in later life, they added.