Study finds that irregular bedtimes at 3-years-old predict lower cognitive performance four years later.
How much do children’s bedtimes really matter for how their brains develop?
To measure the effects of bedtimes on cognitive function, researchers followed 11,000 children from when they were 3-years old to the age of 7 (Kelly et al., 2013).
Parents were asked about their children’s bedtimes at 3, 5 and 7-years-old. At 7, the children were tested on their reading, maths and spatial abilities.
The study found that:
In other words, regular bedtimes are important for both boys and girls and the earlier these can be implemented, the better for cognitive performance. The suggestion is that irregular sleeping patterns adversely affect development and these may cause permanent damage:
“Sleep is crucial for the maintenance of homeostasis and brain plasticity, including processes to do with embedding new knowledge, memory and skills into developing neural assemblies”
While is true of for both boys and girls, the study found that irregular bedtimes may be particularly bad news for girls.
Although children from more disadvantaged backgrounds tend to have less regular bedtimes, this was taken into account in the statistical models built by researchers:
About the author
Psychologist, Jeremy Dean, PhD is the founder and author of PsyBlog. He holds a doctorate in psychology from University College London and two other advanced degrees in psychology.
He has been writing about scientific research on PsyBlog since 2004. He is also the author of the book “Making Habits, Breaking Habits” (Da Capo, 2003) and several ebooks.
Kayode Emmanuel Ojo is the Co-Founder and Managing Director at SHEFFA Limited. He is presently studying Computer Science at the National Open University, Victoria Island, Lagos.