"Do not sleep affect children in many ways, because they have more risk of developing diseases, in addition to affecting their low stature and size, because during sleep the growth hormone is released"
Lack of sleep in children can have serious consequences such as overweight and effects on the immune system, and is a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes, the endocrinologist doctor Armando Blanco López warned today.
"Do not sleep affect children in many ways, because they are more risk of developing diseaseMexican Academy of Pediatrics.
The specialist explained that the most common disorder presented in the child population is the apnea of sleep, which is the interruption of breathing when they are asleep and wake up to breathe again.
"This is generated by the hypertrophy of the tonsils or adenoids, but it is also related to obesity, a very common disease in the child population today," said the expert on the eve of the celebration of World Dream Day.
Blanco López said that when children sleep little they fail to release melatonin, sleep hormone and, on the contrary, they generate adrenaline and cortisol, which raise blood pressure and cause hunger, which in turn can lead to overweight.
He also explained that by not sleeping, the little ones cannot segregate the growth hormone, which is especially stimulated with sleep, which causes children to be low.
“The growth hormone reaches its maximum level during the night;Therefore, once the child is in the dark, he releases more spikes from this hormone and, if he sleeps before nine o'clock at night he has a good period to release high levels of it, ”he explained.
In the same way, he warned that lack of sleep affects the development of diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. “When children sleeping hours are more likely to have higher body mass rates, which leads to obesity,In addition to insulin resistance and combined, they are risk factors for diabetes, ”he explained.
However, an investigation carried out by the Clinic of Sleep Disorders of the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM) in 2017 revealed that Mexican children sleep two hours less than the required time.
While the American Sleep Academy prescribes 11 hours of sleep for children between six to 13 years, infants who participated in the investigation sleep, eight hours a day.In comparison with their contemporaries in Australia, China, the United States, Switzerland and Japan, Mexicans have less sleep hours.
Blanco López said that among the main causes of these statistics are the bad sleep habits and the constant use of electronic devices before sleeping.
“Children do not have good sleep habits.If parents are stressed, children will also be.In addition, if they are given mobile devices they will hinder their sleep cycles, which affects them in many ways, ”he said.
