Kids’ Bedtimes Do Matter

It’s not always easy getting the kids to bed early — never mind at the same time each night. Friends stop by, activities are going on at night, homework must be done during the school year, and then errands crop up — all of this means kids often get to bed when they “can.” In many households, rarely is this consistent.

Funded by the National Institutes of Health, a new study is examining precisely how inconsistent sleep and a lack of sleep often lead to depression and anxiety disorders for kids later on in their lives. And it comes on the heels of new sleep guidelines for children of every age from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

“Healthy sleep is critical for children’s psychological well-being,” said one researcher.

“There is a reason children need more sleep than adults,” said Candice Alfano, a clinical psychologist and associate psychology professor at the University of Houston in Texas.

“It is absolutely essential for healthy growth and development. The research is overwhelmingly clear that healthy sleep confers tremendous benefit, just as poor sleep increases risk for a host of negative outcomes. For example, kids who sleep less on average are more likely to visit the ER for a physical injury, repeat a grade in school, exhibit emotional difficulties, and develop psychiatric disorders,” Alfano told LifeZette.

Alfano is the principal investigator of the study and director of the Sleep and Anxiety Center of Houston (SACH). Along with co-investigator Cara Palmer, a postdoctoral fellow at SACH, she is identifying distinct emotional processes that, when disrupted by poor sleep, make children vulnerable to developing anxiety and depression.

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To pinpoint these cognitive, behavioral, and physiological patterns of emotional risk, they are temporarily restricting sleep in 50 pre-adolescent children between the ages of 7 and 11.

“In particular, we are interested in understanding how children appraise, express, regulate, and later recall emotional experiences, both when sleep is adequate and when it is inadequate. We focus on childhood, because similar to problems with anxiety and depression, sleep habits and patterns develop early in life and can be enduring,” said Alfano.

[lz_bulleted_list title=”Recommended Nightly Sleep for Children” source=”http://www.aasmnet.org”]4-12 months: 12-16 hours|1-2 years: 11-14 hours|3-5 years: 10-13 hours|6-12 years: 9-12 hours|13-18 years: 8-10 hours|18+ years: 7+ hours[/lz_bulleted_list]

Their findings thus far have revealed that inadequate sleep impacts children’s emotional health not only by creating more negative emotions, but also by altering positive emotional experiences. For example, Alfano said after just two nights of poor sleep, children derive less pleasure from positive things, are less reactive to them, and are less likely to recall details about the positive experiences later.

When normal nightly sleep habits are adequate, that’s not the case.

“Healthy sleep is critical for children’s psychological well-being,” Alfano said in a statement. “Parents need to think about sleep as an essential component of overall health in the same way they do nutrition, dental hygiene, and physical activity. If your children have problems waking up in the morning or are sleepy during the day, then their nighttime sleep is probably inadequate. This can happen for several reasons, such as a too-late bedtime, non-restful sleep during the night, or an inconsistent sleep schedule.”

Alfano said studying the link between sleep disruption and maladaptive emotional processing in childhood is essential, as “the increased need for sleep and greater brain plasticity during childhood suggests this to be a critical window of opportunity for early intervention.”

The combined societal costs of anxiety and depressive disorders are estimated to be more than $120 billion annually. It is one of the reasons the search is on to better identify risk factors and effective intervention methods.

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“There are multiple emotional processes that seem to be disrupted by poor sleep,” Alfano said. “For example, our ability to self-monitor, pick up on others’ nonverbal cues, and accurately identify others’ emotions diminishes when sleep is inadequate. Combine this with less impulse control — a hallmark feature of the teenage years — and sleep deprivation can create a ‘perfect storm’ for experiencing negative emotions and consequences.”

Seven- to 11-year-old kids should ideally get about 10 hours sleep per night, said Alfano. However, national estimates routinely show that most U.S. kids in this age range get about 8 to 8.5 hours. The children involved in the study are getting at least 8.5 hours of sleep per night.

Besides putting children to bed at a more consistent time each night, parents need to ensure better overall health for their children.

“Like most things, children learn the most from what parents do — not say. So parents should first lead by example via regular, appropriate bedtimes and good sleep hygiene — for example, don’t watch TV or eat in bed. I advise parents to never send children to bed early as a consequence for negative behaviors. Sleep should be seen as a reward for a hard day’s work at school and play. And take away electronics at least 1 hour prior to bedtime,” said Alfano.