Health fears for sleepless children

Today's generation of children are in danger of getting so little sleep they are putting their mental and physical health at risk, a new report says today.

One in five youngsters get anything between two and five hours sleep a night less than their parents did at their age, according to the research. This raises serious questions about whether lack of sleep is affecting children's ability to concentrate at school.

Earlier work has shown that losing as little as half an hour's sleep a night can have profound effects on how children perform the next day. Experts suggest the number of televisions and computers in children's bedrooms may be to blame.

Instead of being read a book at bedtime, children are going to their room and playing with their electronic gadgets.

According to the survey, nearly a quarter - 24 per cent - of parents said their children get less sleep than they did when they were a child. Of those, 82 per cent said they got two or more hours less sleep, while 17 per cent said they got five or more hours less sleep.

Dr Luci Wiggs, a research fellow at Oxford University's Section Of Child And Adolescent Psychiatry who wrote a report accompanying the research, said 10-year-olds need 8-10 hours sleep a night while four-year-olds need 12 hours.

"One of the problems with the pre-sleep activities of modern children is that they are unstructured activities, i.e. they do not have clearly defined start and end times.

"This is the first generation of children to face such a plethora of alternatives to going to sleep and the long term consequences in terms of physical and mental health for both the child and their family can only be guessed at.

"What we do know is that impaired sleep quality or quantity may compromise children's physical health, academic achievements and mental health."

Lack of sleep could affect children's immune functions and growth, she said. There was also a well-established effect on memory, reaction time and concentration.

According to Dr Wiggs the decline of the bedtime routine and an increasingly "24/7" society creates a dilemma for parents. "In the days before electricity, central heating and Playstations, the child's only motivation for staying up late was to read a favourite book under the bedclothes by torchlight.

"Today's diversions are more easily achieved and stimulating. Televisions, computers and other forms of entertainment are commonly found in bedrooms. As these new childhood pre-sleep activities have become more widespread so more traditional ones such as reading, or being read to, may have declined."

She added: "A bedtime routine should include at least 15-30 minutes of calm, soothing activities - such as reading, having a hot milky drink or a warm bath - with a definite endpoint."

The survey of 1,000 adults was conducted by ICM Research Ltd on behalf of the children's bedtime drink Horlicks Snoozo.