Indian kids not taking proper sleep: Study

Indian children particularly infants and toddlers are not following the famous saying, which is suitable for good health, “early to bed, early to rise.” Instead they are following “late to bed, early to rise.”

Indian infants and toddlers are going to bed much later and getting lesser sleep than their Caucasian counterparts. An intensive study conducted for the purpose of knowing the children's pattern of sleeping came out with the alarming consequences for the Asian children.

The study was coined by Jodi Mindell from Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia and presented at SLEEP 2008 - the meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) in Baltimore (US)-where the researchers came out with the conclusion that very young Indian children took less sleep, went late to bed and were more likely to share their room than their counterparts living in Caucasian countries.

A large number of children nearly 30,000 were made part of the study of which 3892 were from India, 4505 belonged to US, 800 from the UK, 1,073 from Australia, 1,081 from New Zealand, 1,049 from Hong Kong, 1,036 from Korea. The study had also taken into account of the children belong to China, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore etc.

As per the study, sharp differences were found in relation to their bedtimes and total sleep time. Wide number of parents perceived that their child had a small or severe sleep problem. Some countries had small percentage of sleeping problems, while some other had large percentage of children going under small or severe sleep problem. However, limited differences were noticed in night walking and naps.

“This study is the first one to ever look at sleep in infants and toddlers cross-culturally, and the results are astonishing,” opined Dr. Mindell. “We found vast differences in amounts of sleep and parents' perceptions of sleep problems across countries. These results raise more questions than provide answers.” It needs to be researched whether the differences was the result of cultural differences, she added.

The practice of less sleeping could be disastrous for the health of children in addition to the unnecessary stress for the parents. The value of sleep can be gauged by child’s smiling face, happy nature and natural energy. Parents, who have doubt that their child might be suffering from a sleep disorder, need to immediate consult to paediatrician or a sleep specialist.