ABSTRACT
Purpose – Sleep habits play an important role in the health of young children. Sleep is often compromisedeither because of parents by pressuring children to study into late hours or due to sleep habits of childrenthemselves. The aim of study was to assess the sleep habits of school going children in the capital stateof Delhi, India. Methods – A total of 1457 students aged 9-17 years participated and filled validated ‘Schoolsleep habit survey’ form. A performa was also developed to collect information on usual presleep habits ofschool children. Data was analysed using SPSS ver 20. The form was filled by parents and children together.Results – Sleep onset latency >30 min was reported by 8.6% of the students. Mean bedtime of studentswas 10.49±1.14h on schooldays and 11.10±1.37 h at weekends. On weekends, students woke up later at8.08h±1.76h than schooldays 5.46±1.41h. Older age category (>15 years) slept for lesser duration than theyounger age. On weekends girls slept longer than boys. Majority of the students considered themselves tobe ‘good sleepers’. Lower academic grades in school were found to be associated with insufficient sleep.Number of family members played a significant role on quality of sleep. 23.7% reported to be active onelectronic gadgets prior to sleep. Students reported a reduced parental influence on bedtime with increasingage during schooldays. Boys felt that parents influence the sleep time more on schooldays. Conclusion-sleep problem in the form of increased sleep onset latency was reported by 8.6% children themselves. Useof electronic gadgets, lack of parental influence on setting bed times was seen.