makes children grow clever at school

Regular bedtime makes children grow clever at school

• Thursday, 18 July 2013 00:00
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• Terseer adamu (Review)

Early child development has profound influences on health and well being across life course. Therefore, reduced or disrupted sleep, especially if it occurs at key times in development, could have important impacts on health throughout life, researchers say in this report by Sade Oguntola.

Getting enough sleep is important for a young child for many reasons, from restoring energy to building brain connections. Interestingly, science has showing that the common proverb, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” indeed have some scientific merits for children.

Scientists at University College, London have found that early and inconsistent bedtimes, especially at very young ages and/or throughout early childhood ensures good brain development in children.

Ironically, this latest study which suggests it’s not only how much sleep they get that matters but also what time they go to bed, indicated that going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys. But both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime.

Also, the effect was most striking in three year olds, where boys and girls scored lower on reading, mathematics and spatial skills tests than children of the same age who kept to a more rigid schedule.

Sleep experts have the same opinion that during sleep, the brain restores itself, growth hormones are released, memories are consolidated and unnecessary memories are discarded.

Inconsistent bedtimes disrupt the body clock or lead to sleep deprivation, which affects the brain’s ability to remember and learn new information. Sleep deprivation can cause moodiness, crankiness, depression, and binge eating.

Writing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the researchers said: “Sleep has a crucial and complex role in the maintenance of health and optimal function. Our findings suggest that inconsistent bedtimes, especially at very young ages and/or throughout early childhood, are linked to children’s cognitive development.

“Relations between inconsistent bedtimes and aspects of early child development may have knock-on effects for health and broader social outcomes throughout the life course.”

The researchers drew on information in the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a long-term record of UK children who were tracked from infancy till age seven. This is an ongoing nationally representative cohort study looking at health outcomes in children who were born between 2000 and 2001. They considered how the children’s performance fared on tests at various ages, and whether bedtime had any impact.

Parents who took part in the MCS were asked whether their children went to bed at a regular time on week days. Those who answered “always” or “usually” were put in the regular bedtime group in the study, while those who answered “sometimes” or “never” were put in the irregular bedtime group.

Of course, the study ruled out such things that might influence the results of the study such as mother’s age, family income, educational qualifications of parents, methods of discipline, daily activities and hours spent watching TV or using a computer.

The hour that children went to bed had little or no effect on their performance on different tests, including basic number skills, reading out word cards, and constructing designs from flat or solid shapes. However, irregular bedtime often led to lower scores.

The negative impact of irregular bedtime was greatest in girls who had no set bedtime throughout early life, at three, five and seven years old. The study found the same for boys who had irregular bedtimes at any two of these ages.

But Dr Jubril Abdulmalik , a consultant psychiatrist, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State stated that it is a bit early to generalise that inconsistent bedtimes could make toddlers and children develop low IQ.

According to him, “For toddlers and children, it is good for them to have regular bedtime. This helps them to also get used to this routine. With the television on, for example, there is a lot of stimulation.

“As a result, they could end up with poor sleep, the following day. If a child does not rest well at night, such will not be well refreshed. He or she will not be alert and be able concentrate well in school.”

Is sleep less important than food, drink or safety in lives of children? For Mrs Helen Aderele, a mother of two, it is apparent that sleep is more important than other things such as food and drink, but often times many parents do not think about the need to ensure their children have adequate length of sleep.

According to Mrs Aderele, due to the fact that many parents now work long hours, children’s schedules are packed with school and after-school activities and are sometimes forced to wake up earlier, thus contributing to many children no longer being allowed to get the critical sleep they need to develop and function properly.

Children’s brain development is in progress until the age of 21, and much of that work is done while asleep. Now sleep scientists using newly developed technological and statistical tools, have been able to isolate and measure the impact of inadequate sleep in children.

Surprisingly, it is not merely that sleep matter, how much it is matters also to academic performance and emotional stability. It also affects seemingly unrelated phenomena, such as the obesity epidemic and the rise of attention deficit disorder.

Kindergartners need about 10 to 12 and a half hours of sleep per night (with naps declining and eventually disappearing around age five), and older elementary age kids need nine and a half to 11 and a half hours a night. Sleep needs are somewhat individual, with some kids requiring slightly less or more than their peers.

Signs that a child may not be getting enough rest include crankiness or lethargy by day, difficulty concentrating in school or failing grades, and being hard to wake up in the morning.

Source: http://www.tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/component/k2/item/16947-regular-bedtime-makes-children-grow-clever-at-school