Treating kids’ behavior problems might have the additional benefit of reducing their risk of insomnia as adults, a recent study suggests.
Researchers followed 8,050 people over more than four decades, assessing behavior problems at ages 5, 10 and 16, then administering sleep surveys when participants were 42 years old.
Overall, 78% of kids had normal behavior at age 5, while 13% had moderate behavior problems and 4% had severe behavior issues.
Kids with severe behavior issues were 39 percent more likely to have insomnia by the time they were adults than children who had normal behavior, researchers report in JAMA Network Open.
