Sleeping little and sleeping late can lead to early puberty.

Dr. Wen-Yu Lin and colleagues from the Department of Family Medicine at Taipei Medical University Hospital (Taiwan) studied 2,238 children (1,492 girls aged 6-14 and 746 boys aged 9-17) from hospitals in Taiwan.

Parameters such as sleep duration, bedtime latency, sleep onset time, and overall sleep quality were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.

Insufficient sleep was defined as less than 9 hours of sleep for children under 12 years of age and less than 8 hours for adolescents, and late bedtime as going to bed after 9 p.m. for children under 12 years of age and after 10 p.m. for adolescents. Children were followed every 3 months.

Central precocious puberty (abbreviated as precocious puberty) is diagnosed on the basis of early development of secondary sex characteristics, skeletal age, and specific endocrine criteria.

The results showed that 742 children had precocious puberty and 1,496 had normal development. Girls who had precocious puberty were more likely to get insufficient sleep (1,329 hours less) and go to bed later (1,576 hours) than other girls who had normal sleep.

Girls who entered puberty early experienced a period of 3.5 years of severe sleep deprivation, while boys had longer sleep periods. Therefore, parents should advise their children, especially girls, to maintain adequate sleep and go to bed early to avoid early puberty (which will affect their mental and physical development later on).