Too little sleep can affect many aspects of young kids’ health

By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – In a new study, children who regularly got too little sleep had worse physical, emotional and social health than those who slept the average amount. “Sleep is important for a lot of reasons, and can influence health and well-being and cognitive functioning,” said lead author Christopher A. Magee. “The typical sleep pattern appeared to have the best outcomes as measured in this paper,” he told Reuters Health in an email. But since this is a relatively new area of research, the researchers can’t say for sure that this pattern of sleep causes better health and wellbeing, said Magee, of the University of Wollongong in Australia.