Consistent bedtimes help children better regulate emotions and behavior, research finds

A recent study conducted by researchers at The Pennsylvania State University revealed that consistent bedtimes significantly enhance children's emotional and behavioral regulation. The study highlights that maintaining regular sleep schedules may play a greater role in children's well-being than previously understood, potentially outweighing other factors like sleep duration and quality.

The research involved 143 six-year-old participants who were part of the Penn State Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories (INSIGHT) study. When these children were newborns, their mothers received training in responsive parenting from Penn State researchers, focusing on responding to a child's emotional and physical needs in a warm and consistent manner. Responsive parenting includes creating a supportive and predictable sleep environment, which is crucial for children's development.

Participating children wore wrist-worn monitors for seven days to measure their sleep patterns, including the time of falling asleep, waking up, sleep efficiency, and duration. This device monitored various aspects of sleep to gather accurate data on the children's sleep habits. The data collected from the wrist monitors was then compared with the children's performance on tasks designed to assess their ability to regulate emotions and behavior.

One of the tasks involved placing a toy the child chose in a transparent, locked box. The child was given a set of keys, none of which could unlock the box. Researchers observed the child for self-regulation behaviors, such as talking to themselves or trying each key, and the absence of self-regulation, such as throwing the keys without trying them all. After four minutes, the children were handed the correct key to the box and allowed to play with the toy. Observing the children's behavior during this frustrating task provided insight into their emotional regulation.

Another task tested the children's ability to cooperate by having them decorate a picture frame with their parents. Children's behavior was identified as social behavior if they participated in cooperative activities like sharing and collaborating. It was considered antisocial if they destroyed craft materials or spoke disrespectfully to their parents. Observing the children's behavior during this collaborative activity was another important step of the study.

The findings showed that the more a child's bedtime varied each night, the worse they regulated their behavior and emotions. Bedtime consistency is particularly important in regulating children's behavior and controlling their emotions; children with erratic bedtimes showed more impulsivity and less control. The study underscores the importance of bedtime consistency in child development.

"Children who had consistent bedtimes were generally able to regulate their behavior and emotions. On the contrary, children whose bedtimes and sleep times were erratic showed more impulsivity and less control," Lead researcher Dr. Adwoa Dadzie, a doctoral student in Behavioral Health Sciences, explained.

"Parenting matters," said Professor Orfeu Buxton, Dr. Dadzie's adviser and a faculty member in Behavioral Health Sciences. "When parents create clear routines and respond timely and appropriately to their child's needs, children show better outcomes in behavior regulation and even weight control."

The study notes that findings support the importance of consistency in sleep timing, which may play a greater role in children's behavioral and emotional outcomes than sleep duration and quality. Researchers emphasize that regular sleep schedules may outweigh other factors in contributing to children's well-being.

Techniques for creating a supportive sleep environment include comforting babies by rocking or patting, which can help establish bedtime routines and sleep behaviors in the first year after birth. Parents should respond promptly and suitably to their children's needs, helping them regulate their emotions effectively. Even with hectic schedules that don't allow for a consistent bedtime routine, parents can still take steps to raise their children in a more responsive manner.

The data was extracted from the INSIGHT study, which is longitudinal, meaning the researchers have been tracking the development of these children for an extended period. Between 2012 and 2014, the INSIGHT study set up an experiment on preventing childhood obesity. Researchers engaged families with newborns and grouped them into two: a control group informed about child safety, and an intervention group educated on responsive parenting techniques. Parents in the intervention group were taught how to respond during different infant behavior states like fussiness, alertness, drowsiness, and sleeping. By the time these children turned three, they had lower body mass indices than the children in the control group.

When these children turned six and returned to the College of Medicine for evaluation, the current study on bedtime and behavior used data from their visit. The study illustrates the ongoing benefits of regular sleep timing in children, linking their sleep patterns to performance in emotion-regulation tasks. With eight years of research on the INSIGHT project, the evidence shows that when parents are responsive, they raise healthier children.

The study is published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics.

Sources: The Week, Dev Discourse, Youm7, Earth.com

This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq