Rhode Island kids may not be getting as much sleep as their parents think — at least according to a recent study by Brown University researchers.
The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics, tracked the sleep patterns of 102 elementary school children. While 83% of parents believed their child was sleeping the right amount, sleep trackers showed that only 14% of the children met national sleep guidelines.
Children between ages 6 and 12 should get between nine and 12 hours of sleep per night, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. On average, kids in the study got eight hours and 20 minutes of sleep. Just 4.4% of Latino children in the study met national sleep guidelines compared to 22.8% of non-Latino children.
Diana Grigsby-Toussaint, the study’s senior author and an associate professor at the Brown University School of Public Health, said it’s important parents give their kids the opportunity to get enough sleep.
“If your child is sleeping well, they have better cognitive function. They’re doing better at school. They’re usually less likely to get sick,” Grigsby-Toussaint said. “They are less anxious, for example, in terms of how they interact with other kids.”
Grigsby-Toussaint spoke with morning host Luis Hernandez about the study.
Interview highlights
On how parents can encourage more, and better, sleep in their kids
Diana Grigsby-Toussaint: We really want to encourage parents to ensure that there are things like consistent bedtimes, even over the weekend. Ensuring that the kids are physically active during the day, that they’re getting adequate exposure to natural light during the day — that they’re getting exposure to green spaces. So ensure that during the day that they are doing things that would make it easier for them to fall asleep at night.
Then that there are also consistent routines that they have in terms of — when does does your child start to wind-down before bed? Ensuring that there’s certain things that you do before bed, where they know it’s time to go to bed. Perhaps not having screens at least an hour before bedtime, or not having screens in your bedroom.
On why Latino children in the study on average slept less
Grigsby-Toussaint: Some of the things that we’ve seen in the literature that would influence why some Latino kids might get less sleep were things like later bedtimes; things like co sleeping — you’re sleeping with your child instead of your child sleeping in their bed by themselves. But we did not specifically ask that question in our study, so we could only hypothesize that perhaps those were some of the things that were happening.
