Sleep habits in Swedish children and adolescents - a longitudinal study

Author : Pernilla Garmy

Abstract :Introduction: Sleep length recommendations for Swedish school-aged children and adolescents are 9-11 h for children aged 6-13 years and 8-10 h for adolescents aged 14-17 years. The aim was to investigate sleep length in school-aged children and adolescents from 6 to 16 years in a longitudinal study, and to investigate if shorter sleep length than recommended was associated with experience of being tired at school. Methods: A survey was distributed to the students at 4 time points, at age 6 (n=560), 10 (n=1253), 14 (n=1489) and 16 (n=1449) in a municipality in southern Sweden. At the age of 6, the guardians responded to the survey, and at the other time points, the survey was completed by the students. Results: The mean sleep duration decreased during the period. At age 6, the mean sleep duration was 10.2 h (SD .64), at age 10 the mean sleep duration was 9.5 h (SD .63), at age 14 the mean sleep duration was 8.1 h (SD .98) and at age 16 the mean sleep duration was 7.1 h (SD 1.0). Sleeping less than recommended was associated with being tired at school (p < .05). Conclusion: The younger age group achieved the recommended sleep length, however, the oldest age group, at 16 years, they slept less than recommended. Sleeping shorter than recommended was associated with being tired at school.

Keywords :Sleep duration, school-aged children, adolescents, sleep recommendations, sleep deprivation, academic performance, tiredness, Sweden, longitudinal study, health and well-being.

Conference Name :International Conference on Medical, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences (ICMBPS-24)

Conference Place Venice, Italy

Conference Date 26th Dec 2024