This is the time your children should go to bed if you want to reduce their risk of obesity in later life

AN EARLY bedtime can decrease the risk of your child becoming obese in later life, a new study has found.

Scientists claim that youngsters who are tucked up by 8pm have a better chance of maintaining a healthy weight as a teenager.

Plus, drifting off to sleep in the early evening can help boost their mood, concentration levels and happiness.

The investigation, which involved 977 children, looked at what time parents put their kids to bed at age four-and-a-half.

Researchers then examined the kids’ BMI at the age of 15.

Only 10 per cent of the children who went to bed at 8pm or earlier were obese.

Sixteen per cent of those who went to bed between 8pm and 9pm were classed as overweight, and nearly a quarter of children who went to bed at 9pm or later were obese.

The results were the same for boys and girls.

“Pre-school age children whose bedtimes are at 8pm or before were half as likely to be obese 10 years later,” Sarah Anderson, study author and an associate professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University, told Today.

Experts claim a lack of quality sleep can play havoc with appetite and hunger cravings.

Sarah told The Huffington Post: “Not getting enough sleep can result in changes in the hormones controlling appetite and metabolism.

“And children who have a regular early bedtime are more likely to get enough sleep.”

Being obese can cause a number of chronic health problems from diabetes to heart disease and various cancers.