(Credit-Canva)
Ever notice how a happy home makes everything feel better? Well, a new study suggests that a happy family life can actually help kids between the ages of 9 and 12, what we call tweens, get more sleep.
A happy and healthy home environment is necessary for proper growth and well-being of children. While you may think that parents not interacting with their children may not affect them as much, the truth of the matter is that children intentionally seek their parents for acknowledgement and approval. These play an important role in helping children learn life skills like socializing and interpersonal relations, while also helping them gain confidence, healthy mindset, etc. However, could their home environment, also affect their physical health directly?
Experts are going to present this research at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). What they found is that kids with strong family connections and parents who are really involved in their lives tend to sleep for longer periods.
The study looked at almost 5,000 kids in that 9-to-11 age range. It found some really interesting things about what helps kids sleep more:
Involved Parents: If parents were highly involved in their kids' lives, over half (51%) of those kids got enough sleep.
Family Dinners: Eating dinner together as a family also seemed to help, with 48% of those kids getting enough sleep.
Planning Tomorrow: When families talked about their plans for the next day, 48% of those kids slept well too.
Neighborhood Fun: Even simple things like kids joining in activities in their neighborhood were linked to more sleep.
You might think adults need a lot of sleep, but kids actually need even more! The experts at the AASM say that kids aged 6 to 12 should get 9 to 12 hours of sleep every night. This is super important for their overall health and for how well their brains and bodies grow.
The researchers gathered information during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. They knew the pandemic had messed with kids' sleep, so they wanted to see if having strong family connections could act as a kind of shield, protecting their sleep.
Researchers found a few things that could influence the child’s sleep habits or cycle negatively, which are:
Too Much Screen Time Socializing: Kids who used screens a lot to connect with friends (like on social media or games) got less sleep, with only 40% of them sleeping enough.
Little Parent Interaction: If kids didn't talk much with their parents, only 42% of them got enough sleep.
These findings really highlight that having a good social life and strong family bonds is important for healthy sleep. Researchers hope these results can help create future campaigns or programs that encourage positive social connections, ultimately making kids healthier and happier.
One thing you should keep in mind is that these findings are being shared at a medical meeting, so they're considered early results. They'll need to be published in a scientific journal after being reviewed by other experts before they're considered final.