As a scientific study suggests sleeping in your parents' bed as a child makes you slimmer when you grow up, we look at some of the more weird and wonderful ways to battle the bulge.

Sleep in your parents' bed

According to research carried out in Denmark, children who wake up at night and then fall back asleep in their parents' bed are less likely to be overweight than little oiks put back in their own bed. The study of 500 Danish children found that those who never slept in their parents' bed after waking up at night were three times more likely to be obese than those who went to sleep in their parents' bed every night after waking up. The boffins who carried out the study claim the positive parental response creates a sense of security in the child which may protect against obesity. But don't go getting any ideas - you're too big for that sort of behaviour now.