TORONTO – There may be another reason for parents to tuck their kids in at the same time each night and make sure they fall asleep.
A large British study suggests that an irregular bedtime schedule for young kids could tamper with their brain power and development later in life.
The findings stem from the long-term UK Millennium Cohort Study – or the MCS – which included about 19,000 kids born in the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2001.
The study has been tracking the “Millennium children” through their early childhood years and plans to follow them into adulthood offering a wealth of insight for research.
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In this case, about 11,000 seven-year-olds were examined through surveys and home visits at ages 3, 5 and 7 so the scientists could learn more about family routines, including bedtimes.
The authors tracked the time children went to bed and the consistency of bedtime routines, then tested the kids at the various ages on reading, math and spatial sense.
Results showed that kids with irregular bedtimes, and even those who went to bed after 9 p.m. came from more socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
Girls who had irregular bedtimes had lower scores across the board compared to their peers who went to bed at the same time each night.
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This wasn’t the case for the boys, though. At five years old, the boys fared the same on their tests. At three years old, though, those who didn’t have regular sleeping schedules had lower scores.
This finding underlines what pediatricians have been saying for some time: at around age three, cognitive development is still coming together so this is a critical time for kids to rest and grow.
“Sleep is the price we pay for plasticity on the prior day and the investment needed to allow learning fresh the next day,” the authors at University College London write.
“Early childhood development has profound influences on health and wellbeing across the life course.”
If kids aren’t sleeping enough or on a regular cycle, they’re disrupting natural body rhythms and even causing sleep deprivation.
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A sleep guide authored by a Canadian doctor suggests the same for adults.
Dr. Colleen Carney notes that if adults decided to feed their kids at 10 p.m. and put them to bed at midnight, they’d be hungry, irritable and they’d break down. Their sleeping schedule and the rest of the next day would be thrown off too.
That also applies to grown ups.
Read more: Canadian doctor shares her tips for falling asleep and staying asleep
According to the Sleep Foundation, toddlers between one and three years old need about 12 to 14 hours of sleep within a 24-hour period.
When they’re 1.5 years old, their naptimes will decrease to once a day lasting up to three hours, the organization suggests.
These midday naps shouldn’t occur too close to bedtime, though.
By the time kids are three to five years old, sleep time moves to about 11 to 13 hours each night.
From five to 12 years old, kids get about 10 to 11 hours of sleep. That’s because by this age group, they’re juggling school, homework and sports teams or watching TV, the Sleep Foundation says.
It offers some of these tips for helping parents get their kids to sleep:
– Maintain a daily sleep schedule and consistent bedtime routine
– Make the bedroom environment the same every night and throughout the night
– Set limits that are consistent, communicated and enforced
– Children should sleep in the same sleeping environment every night, in a room that is cool, quiet and dark – and without a TV
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
Follow @Carmen_Chai
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