Healthy Habits: Kids and Sleeping In

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Should Children be Allowed to Sleep-in Late During the Summer? Why Some Researchers says Yes

When I was younger, my mother used to always fuss about how I "wasted" away my summer sleeping in. I was 11, didn’t have anything much going on during the summer, and my mom spent her entire day at work. Not to mention I felt like I was catching up on loss sleep after having to wake up at 6 a.m. each morning to get to school on time. So what if I wanted to sleep in till noon? What was the problem? But mom said she didn’t want me to become a slosh when I grew up. She told me that getting up early would teach me about responsibility and would payoff in the long run—after all, "the early bird gets the worm," she would say. So I pushed my nooners back to 10 a.m.

Throughout the years I learned that most other mothers thought on a similar wave length: they frowned upon their children sleeping in late during the weekends, holidays, and the summer. But now researchers are suggesting that perhaps you should let your children sleep-in after all: studies say that children who get more shut eye are least likely to be overweight or become obese.

One particular study led by a team of researchers from Hong Kong came up with their conclusions after measuring the body mass index and the sleep patterns of a pool of 5,159 elementary and middle school-aged children for an entire year. All of the children got the same amount of sleep during the school week. But those that refused to use their weekends to sleep in a little longer and make up for lost hours of zzz's were significantly larger in weight than those who did.

While biology can definitely play a role in your child's size, researchers try to say that there are several other factors why children who get less than eight hours of sleep a day could weigh more than their peers. One is that they're just too tired throughout the day to engage in more physical activity. Another is that while their peers choose to sleep later, the overweight groups uses that "extra" time to watch more TV on the couch and snack.

So what are the recommended hours of sleep your child should be getting? Experts suggest that teenagers should get at least 8 hours of sleep. Adolescents and pre-pubertal children should get at least 9 to 10 hours of sleep. And younger children should get more.

So if you're child wants to sleep in some this summer, maybe you might want to think about not giving him or her a hard time.

This is a guest post by freelance writer and blogger Nadia Jones. Nadia enjoys sharing her knowledge on topics of education and higher learning. She offers online college advice and guidance to readers throughout the blogosphere. Reach her at nadia.jones5@gmail.com.