A guide for the science minded parent. Sleep requirements in children 2. Gwen Dewar, all rights reserved. What are your childs sleep requirements Even the experts dont know for sure. Sleep has a big impact on our well being, so its understandable that parents want to know if their kids are getting enough. Recent research suggests that something as simple as a well timed nap makes a difference in how much preschoolers learn Kurdziel et al 2. Naps may also enhance learning in babies. But while its clear that sleep is important, there is no easy. In fact, the. most surprising thing about sleep requirements is how little we know. Hunt 2. 00. 3. The official looking recommendations we see everywhere, like the ones in the box below from National Sleep Foundation, are often based on studies of how much time people spend in bed. The charts dont tell us how much of this time is actually spent sleeping. Nor do they tell us about how sleep varies cross culturally. Typically, recommendations about sleep requirements are based on surveys. Western populations e. Blair et al 2. 01. Iglowstein et al 2. Armstrong et al 1. Roffwarg et al 1. Most importantly, the charts cant tell us what your individualized needs are. Knowing how much time people spend in bed is somewhat helpful. As the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research has noted, we. Hunt 2. 00. 3. Unfortunately, such studies are. Notable exceptions are recent studies focusing on behavior problems and obesity. For example, a study of 2. ChineseNewYearbookcover.png' alt='Chinese New Year Teacher Activities For Toddlers' title='Chinese New Year Teacher Activities For Toddlers' />Welcome to Schoolgirl Style Introducing the Learn Colorfully Classroom Couture Collection. The Classroom Couture collection is designed for the teacher that wants to. Numbers Crafts for Kids Ideas for Arts Crafts Math Numbers Activities Projects for Children, Preschoolers, Kindergarteners, and Toddlers. Finnish families with children aged. Paavonen et al 2. Another recent study tracked the development of obesity in young children. In that study, researchers recorded the body weights and sleep. Then, five years later, they. The study revealed a link between sleep loss and obesity. Kids. whod gotten less than 1. Bell and Zimmerman 2. Chinese New Year Teacher Activities For Toddlers' title='Chinese New Year Teacher Activities For Toddlers' />Moreover, researchers found that the timing of sleep mattered. When it came to reducing the risk of obesity, daytime naps didnt help. For young children, the crucial factor was getting more than 1. Is the evidence conclusiveNo. Some research has failed to find. Klingenberg et al 2. Some kids may suffer from medical. Perhaps in the. near future investigators will resolve these discrepancies. Meanwhile, how do we know whats normalWe can try to answer these questions by consulting the range of. But keep the following points in mind. There is no optimal number of sleep hours that applies to all adults or all kids. Dement and Vaughan 1. Hear from us. Sign up for special offers and news sent directly to you. Jenni et al 2. 00. Sleep requirements are. They may also be influenced by. Gottlieb et al 2. The most recent scientific study of sleep duration among. For example. newborns may sleep anywhere from 9 to 1. Iglowstein et al. Kids at both ends of the spectrum may be healthy and normal. Bot Battle Arena 4 Hacked. Sleep patterns vary cross culturally. In some cases, cultural differences are mostly about the scheduling. For instance, in predominantly Asian countries, preschool. Caucasian. countries, but they make up the shortfall by napping during the day. Mindell et al 2. 01. In other cases, cultural differences concern the total amount of sleep. Kids in China and Italy appear to get. Netherlands and the United States. Ottaviano et al 1. Lui et a 2. 00. 3 Super et al 1. Who is better. off At present, we lack scientific studies that address this question. Jenni and OConnor 2. Meanwhile, we shouldnt assume that the. Some populations may be chronically under slept others may be well rested. In the West, recommended sleep durations have changed over time. For example, in the early 1. Matricciani et al 2. Today, the National Sleep Foundation says that its normal for children in this age group to get 1. Have toddler sleep requirements changed since the 2. It seems. very unlikely. Official, population wide recommendations reflect guesswork and cultural norms they shouldnt override our personal observations of a childs energy levels, moods, or signs of fatigue. Too little sleep can have important health consequences. Scientific studies link childhood sleep loss with fatigue and bad. Oginska and Pokorski 2. Berger et al 2. 01. Fallone et al 2. 00. Kurdziel et al. 2. Fallone et al 2. 00. Lumeng et al. 2. 00. Bell and Zimmerman 2. Sleeping less than average isnt necessarily bad. Some. kids sleep less than others, and they dont always suffer for it. For. example, researchers tracking the sleep habits of Swiss children found. Jenni et al 2. 00. Although some parents underestimate how much sleep their children need, others overestimate. Before imposing any particular sleep schedule on your child, its. Forcing children to go to bed when they arent sleepy. Whats typical today The latest clues from a study of British kids. The table below reports the results of a large, prospective study of. South West England in 1. At 8 different points in time beginning when the children were 6. Peter Blair and. his colleagues 2. From these data, the researchers calculated how much time kids spent in bed. Because parents rarely know precisely when their children. Jenni et al 2. 00. The table shows the average nighttime sleep duration for each age group Blair et al 2. It also provides information about the degree of variation. For example, the table indicates that 9. Only 2. 5. got less than 1. Note For more detailed information about baby sleep times, see this article on. What about naps The researchers also asked about daytime sleep. Among children who. Here are the results. Virtually all children 1. Most children 5. But by the time kids were 3. The British data are probably consistent with practices in other. Northern European and Anglo cultures cultures where daytime sleep is. Iceland. Thorleifsdottir et al 2. Switzerland Iglowstein et al 2. But the truth is that human beings are very flexible about when and how they meet their sleep requirements. In many parts of the world, napping is a normal part of life. Worthman and Melby 2. In fact, the. historical and anthropological evidence suggests that humans were. Worthman. and Melby 2. Ekirch 2. 00. 5. So the British study is not representative of kids living in. Mediterranean and in Asia. Africa, and the Americas. For instance, in Saudi Arabia, napping is common among older. According to a study of school age children in Riyadh, 4. Ba. Hamman et al 2. And even in countries where napping is discouraged by the. In the. Southern United States, African American kids are much more likely to. European American kids Crosby. In one study, 4. 0 of African Americans were still taking. Crosby et al 2. 00. Is the early abandonment of napping detrimental For some kids it. Recent experimental research indicates that toddlers who skip. Berger et al 2. 01. Kurdziel et al. Are these average kids meeting their sleep requirementsThe British study tells us about whats normal among a certain. But whats normal keeps changing. As the authors. note, their results differ substantially from the results of older. Western children. For instance, a major study of Swiss kids born in the 1. British children Iglowstein et. The modern British kids are also falling short of the National. Sleep Foundations recommendations about sleep requirements as noted. And thats in keeping with an international trend towards. From the United States to Saudi Arabia to Hong Kong, recent. Matricciani et al 2. Ba. Hammam et al 2. Ng 2. 00. 5 Smedje. Tynjala et al 1. 99. Is this worrying As I note above, its hard to say how much. We need more rigorous. But given evidence to date. Vriend et al 2. 01. Li et al 2. 01. 3, I think we should be.