Nov 04, 2013 11:46 AM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

In the fight against childhood obesity, researchers have come up with a method to help parents get their kids' eating habits in check simply by putting them to bed on time.

A good night's sleep is not going to end childhood obesity, but new research shows it is an effective habit that is definitely part of the solution, HealthDay News reported. The study shows that more sleep helps lower kids' food intake.

The study's author Chantelle Hart, an associate professor of public health at Temple University's Center for Obesity Research and Education in Philadelphia, conducted a three-week study analyzing 37 children aged eight to eleven. The lower the food intake, she found, the better the weight regulation.

"Achieving a good night's sleep during childhood should be explored as an important strategy to enhance prevention and intervention approaches for obesity," she said.

Hart's next step in continuing her work is to determine if more sleep over an extended period of time could be even more effective on weight control. Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center, said he believes Hart is taking the right approach.

"The evidence is incredibly strong and consistent that a short list of lifestyle factors has a phenomenal influence on weight, health and even gene expression," he said.

Katz noted that a better sleeping habit is part of a short list of lifestyle changes proven to be effective in preventing childhood obesity. Those changes also include physical activity, a healthier diet, reducing stress in any way possible and not smoking. But sleep is often the gateway to all those lifestyle changes.

"The power of lifestyle as medicine is not adequately appreciated," Katz said. "As this study shows, the best way to improve diet and weight may be by improving sleep."

Hart's study is published online in the journal Pediatrics and is awaiting publication in December's print edition.

For the study, the children were told to sleep their normal amount of about 9.5 hours per night for the first week. The second week, the kids were randomly told to sleep 1.5 hours more or 1.5 hours less. The third week, those assignments were swapped.

The National Sleep Foundation recommends ten to eleven hours of sleep for kids and teenagers, but only eight for adults. Hart's study supported that and the kids who slept more ate less and cut out an average of 134 calories per day.

Dr. Luis Gonzalez-Mendoza, director of pediatric endocrinology at Miami Children's Hospital in Florida, said the issue of sleep as it relates appetite is very complex.

"Appetite is multi-factorial," he said. "I don't think this study was conclusive, but I think they opened the door to look at all these things."

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