How lack of sleep for as little as 39 minutes can affect your child's health
- A new study shows that lack of sleep can affect children's well-being and mood.
- sleep deprived children do not do very well in school.
- Losing even 30 minutes of sleep can have an impact.
- Sleep experts say sleep should be a priority for children and adults alike.
If they lost just 39 minutes of sleep, they felt significantly worse, had poorer academic performance, and reduced quality of life.
sleep restrictions have also affected children who lost as little as 30 minutes of sleep.
How sleep deprivation affects children
According to the study's authors, little is known about the effects of sleep deprivation on healthy children. Their goal was to study this problem.
The children in the study were part of another study aptly named DREAM (Daily Rest, Eat and Activity Monitoring).
In this study, the children alternated between weeks of reduced and increased sleep. There was a week break in between.
The 2022 study involved a total of 100 healthy children between the ages of 8 and 12 with no sleep problems.
The children's bedtimes were put back one hour (sleep restriction) or one hour earlier (sleep extension). The children were still waking up at their normal times.
The researchers then asked parents and children to rate their children's health-related quality of life using various questionnaires.
"There was a significant negative impact on perceived physical well-being and ability to cope with the school environment," he noted.
Pirtle also noted that it is not clear how these results might affect children or a more diverse population in the long term.
Why are these discoveries important? your children, as well as yourself.
"From dietary choices to exercise, coping skills and social engagement, sleep can have a positive or negative impact on all of these elements of healthy living," she said.
Pirtle added that this particular study is important because most studies of this type have involved children with sleep disorders. This new study found a direct link between sleep deprivation and health-related quality of life in otherwise healthy children.
"This shows that all children need the right amount and quality of sleep to stay healthy and do well in school," Pirtle said.
External Links for references:
Comments
Post a Comment