Scientific study reveals they have better math, reading, and spatial awareness skills
“Do you want to raise your children successfully?” challenges Bill Murphy J.R, author of the book How to Raise Successful Kids. The answer is simple, though sometimes difficult to meet: Give them a regular time to go to bed.
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It’s just that bedtime can turn into a struggle in any family, especially when there are younger children. But, Murphy explains, science supports it: children who regularly go to bed at an early age end up having better math, reading, and spatial awareness skills, all of which can lead to a cascade of positive results.
The research, Inc. details, is based on the study of 11,000 7-year-olds in the UK. Researchers at the ESRC International Center For Lifecourse Studies in Society and Health in England correlated their performance on assessment tests with their sleep schedules in childhood, at 3, 5, and 7 years, and found that irregular schedules were more common. among 3-year-olds. As children got older, their sleep schedules became more consistent, but those whose sleep schedules remained volatile were more likely to perform poorly on tests of reading, math, and spatial awareness.
According to a statement from University College London, where their research center is located, in addition to being simply tired, researchers theorized that volatility in body rhythms and sleep deprivation “undermine the plasticity of the brain and the ability to acquire and retain information.”
All children in this sleep study were part of the Millennium Cohort Study, which tracked children born in the UK from 2000 onwards.
The British Birth Cohorts, which are probably the most comprehensive longitudinal studies in human history, and the source of the data studied by the researchers in this case. Since 1946, British researchers have followed more than 70,000 children since birth, writing down everything from the amount of money their parents spent on nursery supplies when they were born, to their income and wealth at age 30 …
“Of course, we have to keep in mind our old friend, “correlation vs. causation”,” explains the author of the column. It is that he warns, it is very possible that children with irregular sleep schedules are more likely to share another common characteristic, or perhaps several, that leads them to perform less in these evaluations.
Perhaps children with irregular sleep schedules are also less likely to receive nutritious meals on a regular basis, or to have a clean, comfortable place to do homework. Or maybe it’s that parents who insist on a regular bedtime are also likely to insist on another factor we’ve seen lead to children’s success: getting them to do chores.
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“None of this happens in a vacuum,” warns Murphy. Another study, this time from the University of Michigan revealed that among adults – doctors practicing in hospitals who agreed to record their moods and sleep patterns – bedtime had a strong relationship with moods, sleep patterns, and symptoms of depression.
Those who went to bed at the same time felt better and showed fewer symptoms of depression.
Interestingly, it didn’t matter if they went to bed in the morning or tried to make up for the lack of sleep on weekends. It was the structure of sleep patterns that predicted mood, as well as the quantity or quality of sleep.