We all know getting enough sleep is important.
And we have all felt the effect not getting enough of it can have – both on ourselves, but certainly on our kids. If you have experienced the cranky hell that is tired toddler, you know what I'm talking about.
But while we know sleep matters to our physical health and energy levels, did you know if it also massively important to your child's happiness?
It's true.
A recent
large-scale survey in Australia, which involved 47,000 Australian children, found that, in fact, sleep was the
biggest indicator of happiness—getting enough sleep made children twice as likely to report feeling happy lots of the time.
“These results provide compelling evidence that sleep is a key indicator of child wellbeing," said Associate Professor Lisa Gibbs, the Chair of The University of Melbourne Children's Lives Initiative, in an interview with ABC News.
As well as happiness, sleep is also important for children's wellbeing in terms of feeling safe and secure. In the survey results, children who did not feel safe were four times more likely to have atypical sleep patterns, meaning they slept too much or too little for the age group.
The survey also found a range of things help children feel happy including family, friends, music and sports. Younger children were significantly more likely to report that family, reading and artwork were sources of happiness. Pets were also identified by many children in all age groups and gender as a source of happiness.
