Keep your children active for better sleep!

Tuesday 28 July

New research has confirmed the long-held parental belief that physical activity helps children to sleep better, a tired child means a better nights rest, especially for parents!   

Dr Gillian Nixon from Monash University, and colleagues in New Zealand monitored physical activity and sleep behaviour in 519 children in the community and found that the average time taken to fall asleep after lights out was 26 minutes. 

They found that children who were more active during the day fell asleep more rapidly, whereas children who were more sedentary took longer to fall asleep.   

For every hour of the day a child spent in sedentary activity, sleep latency was increased by three minutes.   

Up to one in six school aged children have difficulty falling asleep and now a Monash University sleep physician has shown that sedentary habits are linked to longer sleep latency in children.   

Another important finding was that longer sleep latency was also associated with shorter total sleep duration - which in turn has been linked to other child health problems such as obesity and poor cognitive function.   

The authors of the study, published in the Archives of Diseases in Childhood say theirs is the first community study to confirm the findings seen in experimental sleep laboratory situations.   

“Promoting healthy sleep in children is vitally important,” they say.   

“These findings emphasise the importance of physical activity for children, not only for fitness, cardiovascular health and weight control, but also for promoting good sleep,” they conclude.

Monash Sport offers a number of programs for children of all ages, including Starta Sports, Aviva Tennis Hot Shots, and the Learn to Swim programs.

Active kids equal well rested kids and parents.