In a recent study children’s waist sizes and obesity are being linked to sleeping disorders, this can include simple things like snoring to more serious conditions like obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, which can lead to your child having behaviour problems including, day time sleeping, attention seeking, being aggressive and hyperactivity, all of these can have an effect your child’s schooling.

It is estimated that 16% of children aged between 6-19 are overweight. Overweight problems in children can be caused by factors such as nutrition and sleep patterns. However there are very few children overweight due to genetics, (in many cases just an excuse by parents) its mainly due to poor diet and lack of exercise.

In today’s society we tend to drive everywhere, and our kids would rather stay at home watching TV or playing on the computer again missing out on vital exercise. Another sad fact is that many parents have lost the ability to produce a home cooked meal, they would rather send out to the local takeaway. Granted, time issues are a factor with modern society, but surely we can still try and find a half-hour to prepare a home-cooked meal?

Should we put our children on a weight loss diet? Short answer is No! Children need a rich diet as they are constantly growing. However, there are certain sweets that parents can cut out of their daily routine and replace by healthy diet bars, (which are very tasty, now). Remember, children should never be put on diets without consulting medical advice first!