A good night's sleep is essential for children's health and development, but childhood sleep patterns may also be linked to future substance use. A new study, led by a team of Penn State researchers, found that adolescents were more likely to have consumed alcohol or tried marijuana by age 15 if they went to bed later and slept fewer hours during childhood and adolescence. The team published their findings in Annals of Epidemiology .
The study suggests that there might be some critical ages when sleep can be a target for intervention. If we improve sleep in the school-age population, not only could that show improvements in sleep health but in other aspects like the decision to engage in risky behaviors like alcohol and other substance use." Anne-Marie Chang, associate professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State and senior author of the paper The research team explored childhood sleep at different developmental stages within the same sample of children to see if there's an impact on later substance use, which few studies have investigated.
They focused on two different facets of sleep health -; total duration of sleep and time of sleep or bedtime. The researchers explained that if children, especially school-aged children, go to bed later, it could affect their ability to sleep well. "Sleep is multifaceted.
It's important for children because it helps with growth and development. The brain is more plastic during younger ages and you want healthy sleep to support neural de.