The lifestyle factors such as sleep patterns, nutrition, walking, contributing to obesity in children is varying between low-income and high-income countries.
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‘'one size fits all' approach to obesity prevention is often misguided and factors contributing to childhood obesity can be quite different between low-income and high-income countries.
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Dr. Jean-Philippe Chaput, HALO scientist at the CHEO Research Institute and co-Principal Investigator of ISCOLE Canada led a first of its kind study to look at the link between sleep patterns and lifestyle behaviors in children from 12 countries in five major geographic regions of the world. The findings reveal that short sleep duration, poor sleep quality and later bedtimes are all associated with unhealthy lifestyle habits. However, the relationships were stronger in high-income countries compared to low/middle income countries; suggesting that interventions aimed at improving sleep and lifestyle behaviours should be culturally adapted to maximize success. ![twitter](https://images.medindia.net/icons/news/social/twitter.png)
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"It is possible that children's days are too structured or regulated in high-income countries and that there is more flexibility and discretionary time in low-income countries. Sleep should not be overlooked by parents or health care practitioners and must be part of the lifestyle package that traditionally has focused on diet and exercise,” said Dr. Chaput.
Dr. Richard Larouche, Post-doctoral fellow at the CHEO Research Institute led a study examining what distinguishes children who engage in active school transport (that is the use of non-motorized modes such as walking and cycling to get to and from school) from those who do not. Across countries, children who engage in active transportation are less likely to be overweight or obese and they are also more physically active.
"Overall, 42.1% of children reported engaging in active transportation, but across countries, this varied from 5.2% in India to 79.4% in Finland. In the Canadian site (Ottawa), 35.1% of children engaged in active transportation. These findings challenge the belief that there is a common (or universal) set of factors associated with active transportation," said Dr. Larouche. The factors associated with active school transport varied widely across countries.
Source-Eurekalert