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Whakatipu Rakatira: improving sleep as a vehicle to grow healthy future leaders

Year:
2023
Duration:
60 months
Approved budget:
$4,999,677.36
Researchers:
Professor Rachael Taylor
,
Associate Professor Justine Camp
,
Dr Jillian Haszard
,
Professor Barbara Galland
,
Associate Professor Deirdre Brown
,
Associate Professor Sarah Hetrick
,
Mr Stuart McDonald
,
Dr Kim Meredith-Jones
,
Rosalie Jackson
,
Ms Takiwai Russell-Camp
,
Professor Tracey Signal
,
Dr Mohamed Alansari
,
Dr Nicola Ludin
Host:
University of Otago
Health issue:
Mental health (and sleep disorders)
Proposal type:
Programme
Lay summary
We all know the value of a good night’s sleep. Yet, for many reasons, good sleep health is often not prioritised, meaning many children and adolescents do not get enough good-quality sleep that lets them function well in today’s busy world. Our programme aims to change that – to test different ways of helping tamariki in Aotearoa sleep well, from infancy through to adolescence. Projects include working in conjunction with Māori health providers to develop more comprehensive service delivery around sleep in babies, testing the appeal and effectiveness of different online approaches to improving sleep in younger teens that can be quickly scaled, and school-wide initiatives that allow all older teens to benefit from later school starts that more closely match their biological tendency to sleep late. By working closely with health and education providers, rapid implementation is both feasible and attractive; after all, who doesn’t like a good moe?