True Confessions?  My oldest daughter still holds it against me that I would not impress a bedtime for my children, once they reached four years old.  My  policy was you could stay up as late as you want- but you had to get up the next morning when required.  If it were a school day, that meant 7:15; Saturday meant 8:30, and Sunday- whenever.

So, my eldest went to bed pretty much every night around 9.  Most of the other kids hit the sack between 8 and 10.  My youngest went to sleep between 10 and 11 (during the week).

Now, I will tell you that my children needed between 6 and 9 hours of sleep a night.  (No, not a range- they each had their own sleep duration.) You can probably guess which one was which.

But, now there’s new data indicating that choosing a specified hour (i.e., 8 pm)  is less important than a consistent bed time. Yvonne Kelly, John Kelly, and Amanda Sacker of the University College in London just published their results on sleep and younger children. (These results were published in the Journeal of Epidemiology and Community Health.)

The children were among the participants in the Millennium Cohort Study (long-term study of children born between 2000 and 2002 in the United Kingdom).  Some 11178 children were examined by the researchers.

They found that children performed better on cognitive tests (z-scores for reading, math, and spatial abilities)  when they had consistent bed times.  Actually, the data concerned the bedtimes imposed at 3, 5, and 7  y of age- with the testing performed when they attained 7 y of age.   Some 20% of the children did not have a consistent bedtime at 3, by five it dropped to about 9%, and 7% at age 7.  The study tried to account for children who skipped breakfast, could watch TV in their bedrooms, and other variables that would detract from a “clean” study.

The key point they found was going to bed either early or late was not critical to their performance.  Going to bed at the same time each night was the salient parameter; those with inconsistent bedtimes fared the poorest on the testing.  Girls were more affected than boys, but the researchers feel this may have been an anomaly.  (It was the math test portion that yielded the worse results.)

It seems that changing bedtimes disrupt the circadian rhythm of the children.  There could be sleep deprivation- and that affects brain plasticity at a critical age.  (Plasticity is the ability of the brain to adjust to changing circumstances and the ability to perfect the synapses and neural pathways.)

This does mean that weekend bedtimes need to be consistent, as well.  It’s thought that the brain’s internal clock does not pay attention to days of the week.  But, for what it’s worth, my son recognized weekends early on- by the time he was two, he made it clear he was aware of the change. (His nanny did not work weekends; and his siblings changed domiciles on Fridays and Sundays.)

This study was among the first done on children’s sleep and performance.  Prior to this publication, data was always sought for adults and teenagers.   This study did not provide any substantiation to the assertion of some folks that longer hours for children’s sleep time has any merit.  Add that “fact” to the knowledge that we’ve already seen that a variation in sleep times has no detrimental affects on our adult lives .

Share this: