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Nightly Sleep

asian-boy-sleeping-nightly-sleep

The amount of time children and youth spend sleeping each night impacts how they function and behave the next day. When children and youth do not get enough sleep they are more likely to have behavioural problems and poorer school performance.^[1] Research shows that over time, lack of sleep can lead to long-term health problems, such as increased risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity, and depression.^{[2],[3],[4],[5]}

Youth who report an average of eight or more hours of sleep

About the Measure

This measure is collected from the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (WDG) Youth Survey that gathers self-reported well-being data from grade 7 and 10 students. The survey asks students how many hours of sleep they get on a regular school night. The Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines recommends children, aged 5 to 13, get 9 to 11 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night and youth, aged 14 to 17, get 8 to 10 hours per night.^[6]

Key Findings

In 2017-18, grade 7 students reported an average of 8.5 hours of nightly sleep. Grade 10 students reported an average of 7.1 hours of nightly sleep. The percentage of grade 10 students who report 8 or more hours of nightly sleep declined between 2014-15 and 2017-18. Reporting sleeping for 8 or more hours nightly was considerably higher among grade 7 students than grade 10 students. Gender and municipal level data can be found in the downloadable Excel file at the bottom of this page.

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Source: WDG Youth Survey, 2014-15 and 2017-18. WDG Report Card Coalition. Last updated August 2, 2018.

Limitations

The WDG Youth Survey collects self-reported data and is subject to response and recall bias. Additionally, every person requires different amounts of sleep. It is difficult to tell from a survey if a person is getting an optimal amount of sleep.

Download Full Dataset (Excel)

References

[1] Beebe, D. W. (2011). Cognitive, behavioral, and functional consequences of inadequate sleep in children and adolescents. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 58(3), 649-665.

[2] Mullington, J. M., Haack, M., Toth, M., Serrador, J. M., & Meier-Ewert, H. K. (2009). Cardiovascular, inflammatory, and metabolic consequences of sleep deprivation. Progress in cardiovascular diseases, 51(4), 294-302.

[3] Cappuccio, F. P., D'elia, L., Strazzullo, P., & Miller, M. A. (2010). Quantity and quality of sleep and incidence of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes care, 33(2), 414-420.

[4] Cappuccio, F. P., Taggart, F. M., Kandala, N., Currie, A., Peile, E., Stranges, S., & Miller, M. A. (2008). Meta-analysis of short sleep duration and obesity in children and adults. SLEEP-NEW YORK THEN WESTCHESTER-, 31(5), 619.

[5] Roberts, R. E., & Duong, H. T. (2014). The prospective association between sleep deprivation and depression among adolescents. Sleep, 37(2), 239-244.

[6] Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP). The Canadian 24-hour movement guidelines for children and youth. Ottawa, ON: Available at: http://www.csep.ca/en/guidelines/24-hour-movement-guidelines