Caffeine and Sleep

Most pediatricians tell parents, or should, that kids age 6-10 should get 10-11 hours of sleep nightly. Kids who get less have more behavior problems, school problems, fall asleep more often in class, and are more likely to be diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. But, forget the doctors, what parent hasn’t blamed bad behavior on the kids being tired?

A recent study, reported in Journal of Pediatric Health Care, points to some common causes of kids failing to get enough sleep. Researchers studied sleep patterns in kids who drank at least one caffeinated drink each day and compared them to kids who drank none. In another phase of the study they compared duration of sleep with the presence of a TV, a computer, a cell phone or a night light in kids bedroom. For some reason they did not look at video games devises.

“Results showed hat nearly 30% of kids drank at least one caffeinated beverage daily. In addition, 42% had a TV, 11% had a computer, and 8% had a phone in their bedroom. On average, children slept 9.5 hours. Nearly 22% complained of daytime tiredness at least several times a week.” Children who drank a caffeinated drink got an average of 15 minutes less sleep, and had a higher BMI (more likely to be overweight) than those who did not consume caffeine. Kids with all three electronic devices got an average of 45 minutes less sleep per night than those without such technology. Even the presence of a night light in the room was enough to reduce sleep by 11 minutes a night. Now that doesn’t sound like much, but in a week it amounts to over an hour, and that deficit may be a potential cause of poor performance in school or behavior difficulties.

As you may know, I am not a fan of caffeinated beverages for adults, let along kids. These beverages are associated with less sleep and increased MBI.  Although the BMI for each study group was not shown individually in the study, it increased by .38 for each caffeinated drink consumed. All on all,10% of the kids were underweight, 51% were considered “normal”, 18% were overweight, and 21 were obese. With all we know about the dangers of kids being too heavy, that’s troubling!

Kids, and most adults, need more sleep. Insufficient sleep affects weight, school (work) performance and is associated with ADHD and ADD. Perhaps, paying attention to sleep and the findings in this study could prevent many kids from being diagnosed with, and treated for, ADD or ADHD. It’s worth a try, and what could be easier than sleeping?