27 extra minutes of sleep may make kids better behaved

Is the secret to good behavior in children a little extra shut-eye?

A new study finds that kids are more likely to be alert and less likely to be disruptive if they added an extra 27 minutes to their nightly sleep schedules.

"In daily life, if you think of the impact of short power naps, usually about 15 to 20 minutes during the day, you can see that this amount of sleep can have a significant positive impact on mood, attention, and well-being," study author Dr. Reut Gruber, director of the attention behavior and sleep lab at the Douglas Institute at McGill University, in Quebec, said to WebMD.

The National Sleep Foundation recommends that children ages 5 through 12 get 10 to 11 hours of sleep each day. However, the researchers behind the new study say that most school-aged children don't even get to bed until after 9 p.m., and 43 percent of boys aged 10 to 11 sleep less than the advised nightly amount.

Lack of sleep can cause mood swings, behavioral problems like hyperactivity and cognitive problems, according to the foundation.

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The new study looked at 34 kids between the ages of 7 to 11 who had no sleep, medical, behavior or academic problems who averaged about nine hours of sleep a night. Half the children had their bedtimes moved up one hour and the other children had their bedtimes moved back an hour for five nights. The children wore actigraphs to record their sleep times.

The kids who had their bedtimes moved up an hour slept on average an additional 27.36 minutes longer per night. In comparison, the children who got to sleep an hour later, got about 54.04 less minutes of sleep each night.

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Teachers were then asked to record the children's behavior -- including impulsivity, restlessness and emotional ability -- and daytime sleepiness was also measured.

The children who were allowed to sleep more were found to be more alert, better behaved and more empathetic. Those with less sleep were determined to be less alert.

"This opens the door to an effective, feasible way to improve children's health and performance," Gruber told the Toronto Star.

Dr. Dean Beebe, a professor of pediatrics at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, said to HealthDay that the findings made sense. Though he was not involved with this study, he has looked at teen sleeping patterns and its relation to behavior. Beebe pointed out that extra sleep for one night won't make a difference, but a permanent change may help children.

Can't sleep? Step-by-step guide to shut-eye

"It's a lifestyle thing, not a quick one-night [change]," he said.

The National Sleep Foundation suggests that if your child is having a hard time falling asleep, keeping TVs and computers out of their room and avoid caffeine may help. In addition, darker, cool and quiet rooms are better for sleep. Parents should also enforce regular and consistent sleeping habits to ensure their child learns healthy sleep habits.

The study was published online on Oct. 15 in Pediatrics and will be in the November 2012 issue.

[mhpieper]

I am a child psychotherapist. Of course one reason children have trouble sleeping is that they have bad dreams. One of the least productive responses, but one that parents are often told to make is to tell children that dreams are not "real" and to show them there is nothing under the bed or in the closet. But telling children that their bad dreams aren't "really" scarey just keeps children running into their parents' bedroom night after night. Helping children to realize that "dreams are stories we tell ourselves for a reason" and helping them understand that the reason lies with "unfinished business" from the day before will empower children to make sense of their own dreams and put themselves back to bed without having to awaken their parents. I have written a children's picture book for ages 3 and up, Mommy, Daddy, I Had a Bad Dream! (www.mommydaddyihadabaddream.com) to help children and parents respond constructively to children's bad dreams. Joey, a bouncy kangaroo has a series of bad dreams which his parents lovingly help him to understand until, by the last one, he is able to understand why he had it and to go back to bed feeling comforted and in charge.

[Lerianis4]

It might also help to start High School later. Some students have to get up at 6AM to meet a school bus at 7. Way too early to be getting up. Move the start of high school back to 8:30 and you might see bright, bushy tailed student in the morning.

[xiingli]

Darnit, only hit 26.5 min. Try again tomorrow.

[rwsmith29456]

My son has some problems and is getting medication which works well, but I have always maintained that besides the legitimate anger issues and possible congenital problems, his behavior is much more controlled when he gets enough sleep. I would say that enough sleep is not the only issue but certainly a large part of it.

[wennd2834]

Defibber, I agree. Very scary how easy it is to be prescribed medication these days.

[defibber]

We must be very careful with information like this as it could put a lot of pychiatrists and child drug providers out of business. Common sense like this is in short supply nowadays - so it seems is good parenting.