Extract:
You’re Getting Sleepy …
Most people get a little grumpy when they do not get enough sleep, but when it comes to children, the problem may be more than just some extra irritation. Lack of sleep may also affect their weight as well as their overall behavior.
A study conducted in New Zealand at the University of Auckland and published in the medical journal Sleep followed almost 600 children from infancy through seven years of age. Researchers observed the children’s sleep patterns and found that generally they slept less on the weekends than during the week and even less during the summer months. According to the findings, the children who tended to sleep the least were at greater risk for being overweight and/or experiencing behavioral problems. In fact, those who regularly slept less than nine hours a night were three times more likely than longer sleepers to be obese and to show signs of attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These results were based on questionnaires completed by the children’s parents and teachers.
How does sleep affect weight? The answer to that is still not clear, but experts suspect that chronic sleep deprivation somehow alters the hormones involved in appetite control and metabolism. This is a connection that still needs to be explored to be better understood.
How much sleep is enough for a child? Experts recommend that preschoolers get 11 to 13 hours of sleep each night, whereas school-age children should get between 10 and 11 hours per night. Many children average only 8 hours. The study concluded that sleep duration is one risk factor that can be fairly easily altered to prevent future health problems for today’s young people.
What is the meaning of the word duration as used in the last paragraph?
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A
Basis
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B
Extent
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C
Cure
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D
Solidity
In the sleep research context, duration means extent, specifically the length or amount of time spent sleeping.
A) Basis
Basis refers to foundational support, unrelated to temporal measurement. Sleep duration concerns quantity of time, not underlying cause.
B) Extent
Extent precisely captures duration's meaning as temporal span: the passage discusses "sleep duration" as a "risk factor that can be fairly easily altered," referring to the length of nightly sleep periods (8 vs. 10-13 hours) that influence health outcomes.
C) Cure
Cure refers to remedy or solution, unrelated to time measurement. Duration describes a condition's temporal characteristic, not its treatment.
D) Solidity
Solidity refers to physical density or firmness, irrelevant to temporal concepts. Sleep lacks physical substance to possess "solidity."
Conclusion
Contextual analysis reveals duration operates as a temporal descriptor quantifying sleep periods. Only "extent" captures this connotation of measurable time span that functions as a modifiable health risk factor.