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MyHealthNewsDaily Contributor
Parents the world over have been worrying about whether their children get enough sleep for more than a century, a new study shows.
The study also found that, even as recommendations about how much sleep kids need have changed since the late 1800s, studies have shown that kids get less sleep than recommended.
"We were surprised that over the last century, the actual amount of sleep that children are getting was consistently about 37 minutes less than what was recommended for them," said lead study author Lisa Anne Matricciani, of the University of South Australia in Adelaide.
And for the last 100 years, "modern living" has been blamed for robbing kids of shuteye, according to the research. The bedtime-delaying culprits have changed with the technologies of the time, from the electric light bulb and the radio in the earlier parts of the 20th century, to the social media and video games of today.
The study is published today (Feb.13) in the journal Pediatrics.
Recommendations vs. actual sleep
To explore the historical trends in sleep recommendations, and compare them to data on the actual amount of time children and teens were sleeping, Australian researchers collected information and studies dating from 1897 to 2009.
They found 32 sets of age-specific sleep recommendations for children, and more than 200 articles that reported on how much actual sleep children got.
The advice by experts of how much sleep children and teens need tend to exceed what kids really get by roughly 30 minutes, whether the year was 1908 or 2008. Although age-specific sleep recommendations declined over the century, the actual amount of sleep that children got declined at a nearly identical rate.
Insufficient sleep in children has been linked with poor academic performance, an increased risk for obesity, higher rates of drug and alcohol use and more frequent injuries.
"The rationale for sleep recommendations was also strikingly consistent for more than 100 years -- that children were overtaxed by the stimulation of modern living," Matricciani said.
But what she and the research team found most remarkable was that there was almost no solid, empirical evidence to support the sleep recommendations being made for children.
"This is not to say that kids don't, in fact, need more sleep, just that the evidence is not out there," said Timothy Olds, a professor of health sciences at the University of South Australia, who also worked on the study. Sleep recommendations may reflect ingrained biases -- that kids are sleep-deprived or the world is going too fast -- more than good science, he said.
Perhaps parents "should take sleep recommendations for children with a grain of salt," Olds suggested.
Watch your child
The best way for parents to determine if a child is getting enough sleep is to "watch your child, and not the clock," said Dr. Marc Weissbluth, an expert on childhood sleep problems and a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
In his book, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" (Ballantine Books, 1999), Weissbluth does not offer sleep recommendations, but instead tells parents to observe certain signs and symptoms.
Look at a child's mood, personality and performance near the end of the day, he advised. If your child is under age 3 and napping, look at them between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.; for a child age 3 or older, look between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Is your child sweet, adaptable and well-functioning, or short-fused, clingy and irritable? This can tell parents whether a child is well-rested or overtired, and whether naps or bedtimes need to be adjusted, Weissbluth said.
Weissbluth said that even though there might be an absence of evidence about exactly how much sleep children need this shouldn't leave parents with the impression that kids are getting enough shuteye.
Rather than focusing solely on the number of hours a child sleeps each night, he advises parents to focus on how a child appears near the end of the day, and when sleep is occurring.
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I'll try to apply the invaluable information immediately, if not sooner.
My kids would sleep more if they wouldn't give them so darn much homework. No time to be a kid. And as parents we suffer because we also are not getting enough sleep.
I just took a sleep study and was told I'm getting a good 2 hours of sleep throughout the night.
They haven't told me yet if and what they can do about my sleep problem, but just that I have one.
I told them that before they took the study.
Whatever happened to good family practitioners who listened to their patients and acted on information given to them.
It's happening in all professions throughout the world.
When was the last time you needed a good mechanic to fix a stubborn car?
Can't find one who can tell you anything without first plugging your car up to a computer analyzer.
Was has really gotten better? Is your quality of life better than it was 30 years ago?
We are creating a world filled with a lot of anxious people who are in a hurry to get nowhere.
I wish that I could say that it was time to turn off the computer and go to sleep, but it doesn't take but 2 hours to achieve my quota.
Good night and wish me luck. My goal is 3 hours tonight, and I hope I achieve my goal with stunning results.
Does anyone get enough sleep anymore?!
Nope, I'm a very busy university student with two jobs...and a music student to boot. Reading the news is one of my forms of relaxation (plus, I like to keep up a bit with the world given that I am out at the university for 13 hours a day and do not hear the news during that time). A typical day for me involves getting up between 6:20 and 6:30, catching a bus at 7:10, which gets me to the university at about 8:10-8:15, practising from 8:30-10:30, either studying/assignments or a rehearsal 10:30-11:30, class, coaching or rehearsal at 11:30, class at 12:30 (sort of...we have to get a certain number of recital credits, these run MWF at 12:30)...or rushing off to a 1:00 rehearsal...more class or rehearsal at either 1:00 or 1:30, lesson or masterclass at 2:30 and 3:30, more rehearsals...
MWF I do not leave the university until 9:15, which gets me home at 10:15 ( I am more productive at the university). Tuesday, I am there 8:10-7:00, I get home, and I drive off to another lesson immediately after, which in the end gets me home at close to 10pm. Thursday I actually get home earlier, but that is because I teach at 6pm!
The amount of sleep I typically get about 6 of the 7 days a week? Lately...4-5 hours. Sadly, this is very normal for university students. One of the reasons I bus instead of driving is because I do not want to risk an accident due to being tired. Plus, as the crazy-busy student, I often use my time on the bus to study, or catch up on emails, or lesson plan...etc, etc.
A favourite saying is "I'll sleep when I'm dead". Thank goodness next week is reading week here...some of us are beginning to look a bit like Night of the Living Dead.
When I was a student back in the dark ages (30+ years ago), I slept maybe 4-5 hours a week, too. That is student life - at least the life of those who studys are involved in campus life and work part-time, which was and is the life of most students. Not nowadays, but always. My dad worked part-time as a student in the 1940's, as well.
It is better than working two or three brain-dead part-time jobs at minimum wage!