Dutch wake-up call - go back to sleep!

When it comes to the right amount of sleep, there are arguments on either side. Too much sleep tends to be associated with depression. But researchers on childhood obesity who thought that there might be a similar association with children who sleep too much found the opposite: infants and toddlers who sleep less than 12 hours a day are twice as likely to become overweight at age three.

Now another study has added strength to the argument that children who sleep more may do better in the long run.

A team of English and Dutch researchers examined data collected between 1983 and 1997 from over a thousand Dutch families. At the start of the study, child participants’ ages ranged from four to 16. Over the course of the investigation, parents used the Child Behavior Checklist to report on their children’s sleep habits, emotional adjustment, and behavior. At the end of 14 years, when the children had become adults (18-32 years), they used the Young Adult Self-Report to account for their own well-being.

After taking into account participants’ sex, age, income, and earlier adjustment, the researchers found that children whose parents said they slept less than others were more likely to become anxious, depressed, or aggressive adults. On the other hand, other childhood sleep issues – such as sleeping longer and having nightmares – were not associated with later problems.

These findings might suggest that improving a child’s sleep could set him on a better course for life. The researchers wonder whether more sleep at night might equal improvements in school work, interpersonal relationships, and physical safety during the day, which in turn might indicate fewer problems later.

But they also consider whether their findings might simply suggest that children genetically predisposed to be poor sleepers are also wired to be poorly adjusted adults. Were this the case, helping children to sleep more wouldn’t do much to improve their long-term prospects.

Combining the expertise of Goldsmiths College at the University of London and the Erasmus University Medical Centre–Sophia, Rotterdam, the research team stress the need for more research that could determine why children who sleep less are at greater risk for difficulties as adults. They also call attention to evidence that children today are sleeping fewer hours than earlier generations did. To improve the forecast for the current generation, it might be vital to reverse this trend.

[See also: Balm of hurt minds… chief nourisher in life's feast [1]. Listen to: Lack of Sleep Linked to Later Heath Problems [2], National Public Radio, Talk of the Nation, April 11, 2008.]

• Summary of “Parent-Reported Sleep Problems During Development and Self-reported Anxiety/Depression, Attention Problems, and Aggressive Behavior Later in Life” by Alice M. Gregory, Jan Van der Ende, Thomas A. Willis, and Frank C. Verhulst in Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine?, April 2008, Volume 162, Issue 4, pp 330-335.