Consistent Sleep May Be Key for Children’s Health and Well-Being

Researchers in New Zealand set out to determine whether mild sleep deprivation affects children’s health-related quality of life. They conducted a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial (Daily Rest, Eating, and Activity Monitoring, or DREAM) in which bedtimes were moved one hour later (sleep restriction) and one hour earlier (sleep extension) than usual for one week each. The DREAM trial involved 100 healthy children (52 girls and 48 boys) aged 8 to 12 years who had parent-reported normal sleep (8-11 hours/night).

The participants completed questionnaires measuring difficulties the child had in falling and staying asleep (disturbance) and daytime sleepiness and the effects on functioning (impairment), as well as physical well-being, psychological well-being, autonomy and parental relations, social and peer support, and school environment. The children went to sleep an average of 64 minutes later each night over the sleep restriction week compared with the sleep extension week, which meant that the children received 39 minutes less sleep per night between sleep conditions over only one week.

This loss of sleep resulted in significant reductions in the children’s physical well-being, overall well-being, and ability to cope well in a school environment. Less social and peer support were also observed. Reductions in psychological well-being, and autonomy and parental relations were observed but were not statistically significant. However, the reductions in multiple aspects of health-related quality of life were observed after only one week of less sleep, and as such, the researchers believe these findings are clinically and statistically significant and require further study.

Even relatively small reductions in nightly sleep duration can have a considerable effect on health-related quality of life in children. These findings highlight that ensuring children receive sufficient good-quality sleep is an important child health issue.