As a child I was skinny until I was five years old, then became overweight. Not astoundingly large, but enough that I was called fat by the other kids and didn't make the cheerleading squad. My pediatrician - pediatrician - told me, "Fat little girls grow up to be fat ladies." You can bet this all made me miserable for most of my young life.

So as a parent I'm always interested in theories and studies about the possible causes of childhood obesity (besides, oh, all those Pringles and cheeseburgers I ate?). Several studies have focused on a possible link between breastfeeding and obesity, with  varying  results, and I did breastfeed as long as I could partially due to this possible link.

Now a new study from Universite Laval suggests lack of sleep is correlated with children's obesity. The study of 422 students found that those who sleep less were 3.5 times more likely to be overweight. No other factor they studied, including parental obesity, level of physical activity, or even time spent in front of the TV or (ahem) computer, showed anywhere near the correlation that too little sleep did.

Of course, correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation. But it is leading scientists to create hypotheses about how sleep and weight relate. One scientist noted, "It's ironic that part of the solution to obesity might lie in sleep, the most sedentary of all human activities." I agree. But with a baby in the house I have learned that more sleep leads to more sleep, and that lots of counterintuitive things are actually true.

The researchers hazard a guess at a prescription for avoiding childhood obesity that includes plenty of movement, and plenty of sleep.

[Photo from tannie annie on flickr.]