Children who don’t get enough sleep ‘more likely to get hooked on drink or drugs’

Children who don’t get enough sleep are in greater danger of getting hooked on drink or drugs, warns new research.

Teenagers are more likely to have tried alcohol or cannabis by the age of 15 if they went to bed late and slept fewer hours during childhood, according to the study.

A good night’s sleep is essential for youngster’s health and development – but childhood sleep patterns may also be linked to future substance use, say American scientists.

Senior study author Professor Anne-Marie Chang, of Penn State University, said: “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 behaviours like alcohol and other substance use.”

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The Penn State researchers monitored childhood sleep at different developmental stages within the same sample of children to see if there was an impact on later substance use, which few studies have previously investigated.

The team concentrated on two different facets of sleep health – total duration of shut-eye and time of sleep or bedtime.

They explained that if youngsters, especially school-aged children, go to bed later, it can affect their ability to sleep well.

Co-lead author Dr David Reichenberger said: “Sleep is multi-faceted.

“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 development.

“Poor sleep health could have downstream effects on their physical health as well as decision making, which could in turn be related to their decision to engage in substance use.”

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The study, published in the journal Annals of Epidemiology, involved data from 1,514 children in 20 cities across the United States.

Parents reported their child’s regular weekday bedtime at ages three, five and nine. They also reported their child’s sleep duration at ages five and nine.

When the researchers evaluated the relationship between childhood bedtime and sleep duration with booze and drug use as teenagers, they found they were 45% more likely to try alcohol by age 15 if they had a later bedtime at age nine when compared to other children with earlier bedtimes at the same age.

But bedtime at the age of five wasn’t associated with future alcohol use, nor was sleep duration at ages five or nine.

When it came to cannabis use, later bedtime at age five was associated with 26% increased odds of trying the drug by the age of 15, while sleeping an hour less at age nine was associated with 19% increased likelihood odds of trying weed by 15.

The researchers also analysed data from 15-year-olds who self-reported their bedtime, sleep duration plus alcohol and cannabis use.

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The team found that teenagers with a later bedtime had a 39% greater chance of drinking alcohol and a 34% greater chance of trying cannabis.

Sleeping one hour less was associated with 28% greater likelihood of ever trying alcohol, but wasn’t associated with cannabis use.

Dr Reichenberger said: “Sleep at ages closer to adolescence is the most crucial in terms of future substance use risk.

“It’s that stage of development when children are rapidly changing and their brain is maturing.”

He said previous research by other groups suggests that shorter sleep duration and later bedtimes may increase impulsivity and impair decision making, which could influence substance use choices.

The Penn team said the new findings highlight the “critical” role of sleep across many aspects of long-term health and well-being.

Creating an environment that’s conducive for sleep and establishing an age-appropriate bedtime are “key elements” for cultivating good sleep for school-age children, according to the researchers.

Prof Chang added: “Exploring the connection between sleep and substance use is a critical area of research because we continue to struggle with an epidemic of opioid addiction and substance use.

“It’s an important area to continue to research and to disseminate our research findings to the broader population, families and health care professionals.”

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