We all know sleep is important, but many parents may not be aware of the detrimental effects sleep loss can have on the emotional well-being of children. New behavioral methods in pediatric and developmental research go beyond parental reporting, which can often be skewed, and shed light on the importance of regular sleep patterns for children’s emotional regulation.
A century of sleep research
Alongside our personal experiences of the groggy, moody mornings that follow sleepless nights, years of research studies have provided illuminating quantitative data that solidify sleep as a cornerstone of good health.
Empirical research on sleep began about one hundred years ago in Professor Nathaniel Kelitman’s lab at the University of Chicago and has continued fervently into present-day research centers. Adequate, good-quality sleep has been linked to positive health outcomes across a broad spectrum of physiological measures, such as disease prevention, cognitive function, metabolic function, and longevity.
Sleep also has a great influence on our emotional selves.
We are able to be kinder, more patient, altruistic adults when we get consistent, adequate sleep — and new research shows us that regular sleep habits are just as important for kids.
Developmental behavioral studies
There are many perspectives on sleep schedules for children (sometimes called “sleep training”) and what, exactly, is considered normal for a child. Sometimes the differing perspectives can be quite contentious.
Many of the studies regarding children’s sleep involve methods that depend on parental reports of their children’s behavior. For example, a parent might be asked to complete a survey or answer a few interview questions about the way their child acted after several nights of a certain amount of sleep.
In a recent series of studies by Adwoa Dadzie and Professor Orfeu Buxton at Penn State University, behavioral methods were used, rather than the parental-report methods, to better understand if maintaining regular sleep schedules was linked to more positive emotional and behavioral outcomes for children.
More than 100 six-year-old children wore sleep-monitoring devices on their wrists for a week. The devices kept track of when the children went to sleep, the quality of their sleep, and how long they slept.
The behaviors and emotions of the children were then tested in person in a clinic where they participated in various tasks that were intended to evoke frustration. These tasks allowed the research team to observe each child’s capacity to regulate their emotions when faced with a challenge and compare the emotional control of children who had various sleep experiences (e.g., timing of sleep onset, duration of sleep, quality of sleep).
Findings from the study suggest that the regularity of the children’s sleep schedules — whether they went to sleep and woke up at approximately the same time each day over the course of a week — exhibited a greater influence over their emotional control and behavior than the duration or quality of sleep.
Children with more consistent, regular sleep schedules showed greater control over their emotions and behaviors.
This research sheds light on the nuanced nature of developmental sleep research, especially regarding the relationship between consistent sleep and emotional regulation. Though duration of sleep is important, regular and consistent sleeping and waking times may be more instrumental in supporting children’s emotional control.