Is Your Family Sleep Deprived?

For at least the past century, experts have considered kids to be sleep deprived.

In "Never Enough Sleep" in the March issue of the journal Pediatrics, Australian researchers looked at 32 different sleep recommendations from 1897 to 2009. They found that kids have always gotten 37 minutes less sleep than the amount recommended in their era.

And for decades, experts have blamed "modern life" for children's lack of sleep. "It was always the technology and the rapidly increasing pace of city life," says Tim Olds, study co-author (with Lisa Anne Matricciani and colleagues).

In the United States, Scandinavia, and Europe, children are sleeping less today, which poses a problem. "Kids who are sleep deprived have poorer memory and poorer attention," says Olds. "It's been associated with obesity and problems with their immune system."

So sleep can help kids and adults stay slim? Yes. Researchers at the University of Chicago have found that when people don't get enough rest, they produce higher levels of a hormone that triggers hunger and reduces caloric expenditure. The Harvard Nurses' Health Study found women who slept five hours or less a night were a third more likely to gain 33 pounds or more over 16 years than their seven-hour-a-night peers.

About two-thirds of kids and adults say they'd like more sleep – but it's tricky with early-start jobs and schools."Adolescents like to go to bed late," says Olds. (Brown University sleep researcher Mary Carskadon has long pushed for high schools to delay starts for teens. It's worth lobbying your school board.)

The difference between how much kids sleep on school days vs. weekend days is increasing in a "yo-yo pattern," says Olds. "They have this massive catch-up sleep. [But] you can't catch it up. It's like exercise. You can't be a weekend warrior."

Sleep research has come along way from 1953, when Eugene Aserinsky, a graduate student at the University of Chicago, and his teacher, Nathaniel Kleitman, a physiology professor, discovered and documented rapid eye momement (REM) , sleep—evidence of brain activity during slumber.

Yet experts still don't know the ideal amount of shut-eye people should get. The National Sleep Foundation notes that no "magic number" exists for sleep. But it does recommend 8.5 to 9.25 hours for 10- to 17-year-olds and 7to 9 hours for adults. Over the past half century, as all that research was going on, the length of time a typical U.S. adult or adolescent spent sleeping decreased by one and a half to two hours a night, and 30 percent of Americans from ages 30 to 64 report spending less than six hours per night at rest.

Not everyone needs exactly eight hours of sleep a night. But famous short snoozers (Bill Clinton, Madonna) may not know how tired they are. Being too tired can impair performance, judgment and the ability to pay attention, and can weaken the immune system.

Here's how you can help your family try to sleep better:

Turn off electronics before bed.Shut down the TV, videogames, and cell phones – and read instead. A 2004 National Sleep Foundation poll showed that stories helped kids nod off.

Go to bed at the same time each night.Don't try to make it all up on the weekend. Harvard sleep expert Robert Stickgold calls this habit "sleep bulimia." The American Academy of Sleep Medicine experts note that the body loves consistency.

Keep the house quiet and dark.Pretend you're a mole.

Skip late-night coffee.Stop consuming caffeine six hours before bed.

Exercise earlier in the day.Being physically active helps you sleep better – but don't rev up right before bed.

Sweet dreams.

For more stories about healthy families, read:

Whitney Houston and the Heartbreak of Substance Abuse

How to Stop Biting Nails

New Survey: Today's Teens Choose Marijuana Over Cigarettes