New research suggests that there is a co-relation between lack of sleep and obesity, which can also lead to cancer in adulthood, according to Business Standard.

“Childhood obesity very often leads to adult obesity.This puts them at greater risk of developing obesity-related cancers in adulthood,” said study lead author Bernard Fuemmeler, Professor and Associate Director for Cancer Prevention and Control at the Virginia Commonwealth University.

For the study, researchers enrolled 120 children, with an average age of eight, whose mothers had participated in the Newborn Epigenetic Study both pre-birth and during early childhood.