A regular bedtime might guarantee more than a good night's sleep
for both kids and their parents -- it turns out that a regular bedtime
can make for a better-behaved child, new research suggests.
When 7-year-olds had irregular bedtimes, they were
more likely to have behavior problems than their peers with a consistent
time for their nightly shut-eye. And, the study also found that the
longer a child had been able to go to bed at different times each night,
the worse his or her behavior problems were.
"Irregular bedtimes were linked to behavioral
difficulties, and these effects appeared to accumulate through early
childhood," said the study's lead author, Yvonne Kelly, a professor of
lifecourse epidemiology at University College London.
"We also found that the effects appeared to be
reversible -- children who changed from not having, to having, regular
bedtimes showed improvements in behaviors, and vice versa," she added.
Kelly and her colleagues reviewed data on more than
10,000 7-year-olds who were enrolled in the U.K. Millennium Cohort
Study. Details on the children's bedtimes were collected when they were
3, 5 and 7 years old.
At the same time that sleep findings were collected,
researchers asked teachers and mothers to rate the children's
behaviors. The behavior survey included 25 questions.
Kids with irregular bedtimes had more behavioral
problems than did children with regular bedtimes, according to both
their teachers and their mothers. The children's mothers rated the
children with irregular bedtimes as having slightly more behavior
problems than did the teachers.
The longer a child had an irregular bedtime, the
greater the behavioral difficulties. On average, a child who had an
irregular bedtime at one time-point in the study increased his or her
score on the behavioral difficulties scale by about a half-point. If
that child had an irregular bedtime at two time-points during the study,
the score increased by about 1 point. If the child had an irregular
bedtime at all three time-points during the study, the score increased
by just over 2 points.
"A half-point corresponds to a 'small' effect.
Irregular bedtimes at two ages, and all three ages, corresponded to a 1-
and 2-point difference in behavior scores. These effect sizes would
have 'moderate' clinical significance," said Kelly when asked if these
score differences would make a noticeable difference in a child's
behavior.
The good news from the study is that if you switch
your child to a regular bedtime from an irregular bedtime schedule, your
child's behavior will likely improve. The reverse is also true. If a
child with a regular bedtime switches to an irregular one, behavior will
likely worsen, the researchers noted.
Kelly said irregular bedtimes could contribute to
behavior problems in several ways. "First, switching bedtimes from night
to night interferes with circadian rhythms [the body clock] and induces
a state akin to jet lag. Second, disrupted sleep interferes with
processes to do with brain maturation," she explained.
Dr. Ruby Roy, a pediatrician at La Rabida Children's
Hospital in Chicago, agreed that several reasons may contribute to a
connection between irregular bedtimes and behavior problems.
"When kids
don't have structure and predictability, they have anxiety," Roy said.
"Kids naturally want to push boundaries, and when they don't have
boundaries, it causes anxiety and acting out. A lack of sleep can also
cause behavior problems, and some of these kids may only be going to
sleep when they're passing out from exhaustion, which means they won't
get enough sleep," she explained.
"Kids probably sleep better with regular bedtimes and when they have established bedtime routines," Roy added.
Kelly concluded: "Getting regular routines around
bedtimes appears to be important for children's behavioral development.
But, there are lots of other influential factors, too. So we shouldn't
get too hung up about children having the same bedtime every single
night."
The study was published online Oct. 14 and in the November print issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Source: Health Day News
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