Tag: addiction

Sleep deprivation leads to obesity

Sleep, obesity and video games (image from the USDA).

A new study links sleep deprivation to obesity in adolescent boys. There have other studies linking lack of sleep and obesity, but this is one of a few looking specifically at adolescents.

The study was presented at the annual Pediatric Academic Societies meeting under the title Is Sleep Related to Obesity in Young Adolescents?. Interestingly enough, there was less of a correlation for girls.

However, in girls, sleep duration was not related to any of the weight-related variables with the exception of less sleep on weekends being related to BMI. – Lytle, Pasch and Farbaksh, 2010.

The USDA has a nice page that touches on the research that’s looking for specific links between sleep deprivation and weight. Their take is that kids don’t get out enough because increased opportunities for indoor entertainment don’t require much activity and disrupt sleep cycles. They suggest that fat cells themselves may respond to changing circadian rhythms.

Abnormal sleep/wake patterns may change circadian clocks that normally allow cells to anticipate variations in the outside environment, such as changing levels of nutrients (glucose, fatty acids and triglycerides) and hormones such as insulin. – Flores, 2007.

I don’t know enough to speculate as to why, but, thinking out loud, I wonder if boys’ predilection for overusing video games has any link to the obesity issue.

Addictive behavior

Image adapted from JTR on Wikipedia Commons

In talking about video game addiction it was suggested that I also look at the parallels with other types of addictive behavior. Mrs. P. sent me a list of links that I’ve been carefully going through. What’s important here is that, no matter what the subject, be it video games, psychoactive substances or even food, many of the symptoms of addiction are the same. Ruth Eng (2003) from the Applied Health Science department at Indiana University has a nice website about addictive behavior. She points out some common characteristics:

  1. The person becomes obsessed (constantly thinks of) the object, activity, or substance.
  2. They will seek it out, or engage in the behaivor even though it is causing harm (physical problems, poor work or study performance, problems with friends, family, fellow workers).
  3. The person will compulsively engage in the activity, that is, do the activity over and over even if he/she does not want to and find it difficult to stop.
  4. Upon cessation of the activity, withdrawal symptoms often occur. These can include irritability, craving, restlessness or depression.
  5. The person does not appear to have control as to when, how long, or how much he or she will continue the behavior (loss of control). (They drink 6 beers when they only wanted one, buy 8 pairs of shoes when they only needed a belt, ate the whole box of cookies, etc).
  6. He/she often denies problems resulting from his/her engagement in the behavior, even though others can see the negative effects.
  7. Person hides the behavior after family or close friends have mentioned their concern. (hides food under beds, alcohol bottles in closets, doesn’t show spouse credit card bills, etc).
  8. Many individuals with addictive behaviors report a blackout for the time they were engaging in the behavior (don’t remember how much or what they bought, how much the lost gambling, how many miles they ran on a sore foot, what they did at the party when drinking)
  9. Depression is common in individuals with addictive behaviors. That is why it is important to make an appointment with a physician to find out what is going on.
  10. Individuals with addictive behaviors often have low self esteem, feel anxious if the do not have control over their environment, and come from psychologically or physically abusive families.

For additional reference, the American Council for Drug Education has a good list of symptoms of substance abuse for a number of psychoactive drugs, while psychcentral.com has a much simpler list titled “Symptoms of Substance Abuse“. WebMD has a similar site that addresses food addiction.

Video Game Addiction

Boys tent to have more problems with games (From Hauge, Marney R., Gentile, Douglas A., (2003, April)).

While the American Psychiatric Association does not yet include it as a diagnosis (as of 2009) video game and internet addictions are problems I’ve seen first hand, and, given my own plugged-in-idess, are topics I personally think about when I reflect on my own computer use. The web is a powerful tool so it’s not so unusual that we’d spend a lot of time using it. There is a point however when it becomes compulsive and takes so much time that it becomes a detriment to our other work.

There are any number of website and online resources about the topic and even a few commercial sites that offer treatment. For anecdotal descriptions there is the Berkley Parents Network website. which has a few examples from parents dealing with the problem. The National Institute on Media and the Family has a good page describing video game addiction. For adolescents they describe the symptoms as;

  • Most of non-school hours are spent on the computer or playing video games.Falling asleep in school.
  • Not keeping up with assignments.
  • Worsening grades.
  • Not telling the truth about computer or video game use.
  • Choosing to use the computer or play video games, rather than see friends.
  • Dropping out of other social groups (clubs or sports).
  • Irritable when not playing a video game or on the computer.

Interestingly, this tends to be more of a problem for boys. And one solution recommended is wilderness therapy. I think that may be a bit extreme. Another suggestion was:

… the experts … said the best way to cure kids’ video game addiction is to set strict limits. They suggested not allowing kids to have computers, PlayStations, TVs, etc. in their bedrooms if monitoring their behavior is a problem.

The Montessori classroom is a closely knit community and, especially in a small classroom, falling asleep in class and being irritable (especially more so than normal teens) can be very disruptive to the entire class. It is, therefore, essential that the problem be addressed as soon and as quickly as possible.