It's Bedtime! Children with Irregular Sleep Have Behavioral Difficulties

It's bedtime--for your sake as well as your child's. Scientists have discovered that children with irregular bedtimes are more likely to have behavioral difficulties. It's possible that these bedtimes could disrupt natural body rhythms and cause sleep deprivation.

"Not having fixed bedtimes, accompanied by a constant sense of flux, induces a state of body and mind akin to jet lag and this matters for healthy development and daily functioning," said Yvonne Kelly, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We know that early child development has profound influences on health and wellbeing across the life course. It follows that disruptions to sleep, especially if they occur at key times in development, could have important lifelong impacts on health."

In order to learn a little bit more about how bedtimes could impact children, the researchers analyzed data from more than 10,000 children in the UK Millennium Cohort Study. The scientists collected bedtime data at three, five and seven years. They also incorporated reports from the children's mothers and teachers about behavioral problems.

So what did they find? The researchers discovered that as children progressed through early childhood without a regular bedtime, they behavioral scores worsened. These scores include hyperactivity, conduct problems, problems with peers and emotional difficulties. They also found that those who switched to a more regular bedtime had clear behavioral improvements.

"What we've shown is that these effects build up incrementally over childhood, so that children who always had irregular bedtimes were worse off than those children who did have a regular bedtime at one or two of the ages when they were surveyed," said Kelly. "But our findings suggest the effects are reversible. For example, children who change from not having to having regular bedtimes show improvements in their behavior."

The findings reveal a little bit more about how sleep is crucial for the development of children. More specifically, the new study reveals that regular bedtimes are an important habit to establish. It brings light to the fact that in this case, parents should tuck their children in on a regular schedule.

The findings are published in the journal Pediatrics.