Don’t underestimate the importance of sleep for your children’s well-being. A lack of sleep will actually help make them fat obese in fact and it can make them depressed, anxious or experience other mood disorders.One study saying that children who don’t get enough sleep every night are four times as likely to be obese as those that do get enough.Dr Rachel Salas, an assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said several studies in adults show that too little sleep affects glucose metabolism. Glucose is a simple sugar that the body uses for energy. If too much is made the body stores it as fat.But a recent study by researchers at the University of Chicago also suggests that the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which are linked to hunger and appetite, also play a role. When the body craves sleep, it interprets it as hunger causing leptin levels to crash and ghrelin levels to spike; this in turn, seems to trigger overeating and may also signal the body to hold onto its fat stores more strongly.According to Dr Salas the sleep deprived person often lacks enough energy to exercise adequately. This compounds the problem as the lack of exercise can result in weight gain, which in turn can lead to depression.But even in cases where the child does not become obese and does not suffer depression, the impact is significant. According to Dr Salas simply being tired poses a myriad of problems.Body & Soul spoke with three mothers who all said once school begins, their children know that a routine of set bedtimes and wake times will come into effect.Not wanting to be named, each woman cited rest as necessary for learning.“I feel they need to get enough rest so that they are energised and excited to go to school in the morning,” said one mother. “I don’t want them to be nodding off during class. I know how difficult it can be for me to do my job when I am tired and I don’t want them to experience that. I want them to be open to learn,” she added.“Our children know that once school starts it’s serious time,” said another mother. “The eight-year-old goes down at 8pm, and the teenagers a 12-year-old, 15-year-old and 17-year-old go down by 10pm,” she said. “We want them to be refreshed and not tired when they go to school. I think it’s disrespectful when children fall asleep during class. It’s disrespectful to the teacher and to you as the child. If you are sleeping when the teacher is teaching, you are loosing the key points,” she added.Dr Salas agreed and noted that information gets consolidated when we sleep. If a child is too tired and misses the information, it will be truly lost, as the brain has nothing to consolidate.In Johns Hopkins’ Sleep Disorder Center, where Dr Salas works, she said there’s been a significant increase in the numbers young people who are chronically sleep deprived.“We are seeing a growing trend of teenagers in their late teens and early 20s falling asleep in college and in high school. Sometimes even getting in trouble,” she said. She said many of them are falling asleep during class and feel extremely tired. The problem in most cases is that they have fallen out of sync with their body’s natural sleep and wake cycle their circadian rhythm.She said the problem is treated largely with behaviour modifications. Getting the body in a regular routine of sleep is key. Sleep hygiene is important and should be taught and practised she said.