Set bedtime helps children learn: study Sleep tight: Young children like Eddie Pryde need regular sleep patterns or development can be disrupted, new research has found. Going to bed at different times every night throughout early childhood may disrupt healthy brain development and learning, research has found. Researchers at University College London studied 11,000 British children's sleeping habits and cognitive development at age three, five and seven to see if there were connections between the two. They found irregular bedtimes at three years of age were associated with lower scores in reading, maths and spatial awareness in boys and girls when compared with children who had set bedtimes. However at age seven, only girls with irregular bedtimes had lower scores on all three aspects of intellect after taking account of other potential factors such as coming from a poorer socio-economic background. Writing in The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health this week, the researchers said irregular bedtimes disrupted natural body rhythms and could cause sleep deprivation - factors that undermine brain plasticity and the ability to acquire and retain information. "Sleep is the price we pay for plasticity on the prior day and the investment needed to allow learning fresh the next day," the authors wrote. Early child development has profound influences on health and wellbeing across the life course. Therefore, reduced or disrupted sleep, especially if it occurs at key times in development, could have important impacts on health throughout life. Dr Jon Quach, a researcher with the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, said the study was consistent with previous Australian research which found poor sleep was associated with poorer maths and literacy skills, as well as behavioural problems in childhood. While every child's sleep needs can be different, Dr Quach said children between three and five should aim for 11-12 hours a night and primary school children about 10-11 hours each night. "Children can have poorer learning and behaviour from as little as one hour less sleep per night," he said. Preston mother Kylie Noy said she tried to put her son Eddie to bed at the same time every night because it improved his mood and behaviour. She said if the toddler, who turns three in August, missed out on sleep, he generally became bossy, clingy and difficult to manage the next day.