The Sleep Transitions and Regularity Study (STARs) is a four-year study aimed at understanding children’s sleep and napping patterns to inform policy and also to provide better information to families and carers.
This study enrolled over 250 families from across Australia to learn about children’s sleep and development.
Find out what was involved and learn about the research team.
About the study
We are no longer recruiting volunteers for this study
Thank you to all the families who are participating in this study. We are now in the research phase and will publish findings as they are complete.
The Sleep Transitions and Regularity Study (STARs) is a four-year study aimed at understanding children’s sleep and napping patterns to provide better information to families and carers.
Commencing in late 2020, STARs enrolled over 250 families from across Australia to learn about children’s sleep and development from 12 months of age to when children begin school.
We are still collecting and analysing data to answer important questions about:
when and where children sleep
how this changes across the week and across time
how these changes are associated with the environments, lives and developmental outcomes of children and their families.
We will publish our findings as they are complete.
Involvement in the study
The parent/carer was asked to:
Fill out a short survey (monthly)
Complete a survey and a 2-week sleep diary (twice a year).
Some parents were asked to place a small sensor in the child’s room to record light and temperature in the child’s sleep environment.
The child was asked to:
Wear a small activity watch (every 6 months for two weeks)
Do some iPad activities (at the age of 3 or 4 years).
Children who attend childcare were visited at their childcare centre to observe their daily activities and sleep environment (under their educator’s supervision).
Participants received:
$20 gift voucher (twice a year)
Activity and sleep report (from the child's activity watch) at the end of the study
Example report
Watch the original recruitment video
We thank the families who are participating in this study. We are now in the data collection and research phase of the project and will publish our findings as they are complete.
This podcast delves into what happens in your brain while you sleep and why you need sleep. QBI researchers, Professor Bruno van Swinderen and Dr Sally Staton, approach sleep from different ends of the scientific spectrum. In this conversation, they delve into thought-provoking topics like:
You can download our video news release via Dropbox. It contains interview grabs from Professor Karen Thorpe, Dr Sally Staton, and volunteer Alicia and her son Chester, as well as overlay.
Publications
Learn about other sleep research projects completed by members of the STARs team.
