Updated July 21, 2020

Most sleep research focuses on how poor sleep may cause health problems. Taking a different approach, ECHO researcher Courtney Blackwell and her team recently conducted a study to determine how better sleep quality may lead to positive health outcomes. In an article published in Quality of Life Research, Blackwell and team found that better sleep quality in school-age children was associated with lower psychological stress and better general health status, which in turn, predicted better life satisfaction

“Existing literature primarily focuses on the negative impacts of sleep. Our team is excited to contribute to the growing body of research on associations of sleep quality on children’s positive well-being,” said Blackwell.

To conduct this study, ECHO researchers asked parents and caregivers to complete surveys about their children’s sleep quality, general health, stress, and life satisfaction. More than 1,000 caregivers of 5- to 9-year-old children from three ECHO Cohorts participated in this study, creating a diverse population that none of the Cohorts offered individually.

Overall, this study suggests that children whose sleep quality is better experience higher levels of life satisfaction.

For more information, read the study summary.