On television, computers, cell phones, homework and extracurricular activities, parents worry that their children are too busy to get enough sleep.

But a recent review suggests that this is not a new problem, and may actually not be a problem at all.

“The children sleep less than before, because the dream has fallen by about 1.25 hours in the last hundred years,” said co-author of the review Tim Olds, a professor of health sciences Samson Institute of Health Research Adelaide, Australia.


But he said, it is unclear whether children really feel the lack of that extra sleep.

“The ‘experts’ in health have always recommended that children sleep more than I do, regardless of how much sleep,” he said.

Moreover, even a hundred years ago, parents thought their children were short of sleep. In their review, Olds and colleagues cited a 1905 study claiming that “the stress and bustle of modern life demand greater brain activity, and mental energies that can last, obviously you have to get rest for the brain “.

By 1923, things had not improved much. The researchers found that in the research literature of the time: “the complexity and bustle of modern life not only affect [sleeping patterns] of adults, but are reflected in children.”

One interesting thing is that regardless of the source of the concern about sleep (textbooks from school, radio, television, internet), the experts felt that the only way to counter the ‘overdrive’ of the brain caused by the art was sleep.

After reviewing one hundred years of research, Olds and colleagues found 32 different sets of recommendations about sleep.

But researchers could not find any convincing evidence to support these recommendations on sleep for children, now or before. And between 1897 and 2009, recommendations on nighttime sleep decreased by approximately 0.71 minutes per year.

By coincidence, the amount of sleep children got dropped in the same period in about 0.73 minutes per year.

In general, children consistently slept less than the recommended sleep experts. On average, children slept 37 minutes less than any recommendation ‘best’ of the time, the study authors noted.

Olds said there may not be a fixed number of hours of sleep that is ideal for all children.

“There is great variability in optimal sleep among children. A child may work better with seven hours, and another eleven,” he said.

In the review, the researchers noted that just because a child to sleep late does not necessarily mean you need more sleep. Like people can eat without hunger, children may sleep more but not really needed, the researchers said.

Just last week, researchers from Brigham Young University (BYU) reported that most adolescents between 16 and 18 do not sleep nine hours a night recommended by federal guidelines, yet do better in school when they sleep alone seven hours each night.

Is one of the reasons? The current federal guidelines are based on studies that were simply told teens sleep until you feel satisfied, the researchers noted at BYU.

“If you used the same method as a guideline on how to eat people, they put in a well-filled pantry and just observe how much ate until they were satisfied,” he said in a statement the university lead researcher Mark Showalter. “There seems something right.”

Olds, co-author of the review, they recommended that parents “try to match the dream from the days when going to school and not to avoid the yo-yo sleep.” He also noted that parents should watch for signs of drowsiness.

According to Dr. Edith Chernoff, chronic medical La Rabida Children’s Hospital in Chicago, daytime sleepiness is a key sign that the child does not sleep enough.

“Study your own children and see how well you are doing during the day,” he advised. If you are sleepy during the day or early evening, probably not getting enough sleep.

Chernoff said parents should not worry if you have trouble waking the kids in the morning, it is not necessarily a sign of lack of sleep. He suggested that if the children have many tantrums and refuse to go to bed, but then fall asleep quickly, probably not getting enough sleep.

Chernoff said the moral is do what works for each family.

“This study indicated that we are all concerned about children and sleep, and that this has not changed in over a hundred years, though not really understand how much sleep is enough,” said Chernoff.

Maybe parents today feel they have reason to be more concerned about the fact that the devices fill the leisure time of their children. But Olds said the distractions of today are probably not worse than those of long ago.

“The study on sleep guidelines shows that parents and educators are concerned about whatever the new technology of the era: radio, television, internet. Do not think the technology today is particularly bad, apart from their ubiquity, it difficult for parents to control it. In twenty years, new technologies will be the focus of concern, perhaps computers that can be used as clothing, or interpreters of brain waves, “added Olds.