title: Sleep-patterns, co-sleeping and parent's perception of sleep among school children: Comparison of domicile and gender.
abstract: This study was aimed at assessment of sleep schedule, pre-sleep behavior, co-sleeping and parent's perception of sleep of school going children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four schools each, from urban and rural area were included. Sleep patterns were assessed using the validated Hindi version of Childhood-Sleep-Habit-Questionnaire. Comparison was made between urban and rural group and between boys and girls. Interaction of gender, domicile and school-type was examined on the sleep patterns.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This study included 831 school children with mean age of 8.9 years. Nearly half of the subjects were boys in this study. Urban children outnumbered those from rural area. Total sleep time on weekdays was 8.3 h that increased to 9.5 h on weekends. Rural children spent more time in sleep than urban children on weekdays and weekends. A higher proportion of urban children felt sleepy during the day. Television watching before bedtime was more common in urban settings. Room sharing was more common among rural children. Nearly 65% rural parents as compared to 77.5% urban parents reported that their child was sleeping sufficient enough. Gender did not affect sleep-schedule and parent's perception regarding their child's sleep. Interaction between gender, domicile and school-type did not have any significant effect on sleep patterns.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Television watching before bedtime was more common among urban school children and they had shorter total sleep time. They had signs of sleep deprivation. Room sharing was more common among rural children. Despite longer sleep time, parents of rural children felt the need for more sleep.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Swami Ram Nagar, Jolly Grant, Dehradun 248140, India.
authors.forename: Ravi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Swami Ram Nagar, Jolly Grant, Dehradun 248140, India.
authors.forename: Sunil Dutt
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Kandpal
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Swami Ram Nagar, Jolly Grant, Dehradun 248140, India.
authors.forename: Deepak
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goel
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Swami Ram Nagar, Jolly Grant, Dehradun 248140, India.
authors.forename: Nidhi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mittal
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Swami Ram Nagar, Jolly Grant, Dehradun 248140, India.
authors.forename: Mohan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dhyani
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Swami Ram Nagar, Jolly Grant, Dehradun 248140, India.
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mittal
keywords: Children; Co-sleeping; Pre-sleep behavior; Sleep-patterns