Research on sleep receives almost $5m funding

University of Otago Department of Medicine researchers Dr Justine Camp, left, and Prof Rachael Taylor are making sleep a priority. Photo / Peter Mcintosh, Otago Daily Times

University of Otago sleep researchers received nearly $5 millionfor a five-year programme that aims to change the way young people sleep.

The funding is part of the $52 million funding boost from the Health Research Council of New Zealand that was announced yesterday.

“Whakatipu rakatira: improving sleep as a vehicle to grow healthy future leaders” is one of five programmes to receive grants worth nearly $5 million.

University of Otago department of medicine researchers Dr Justine Camp and Professor Rachael Taylor will spend the next five years studying how sleep affects young people.

Taylor said the world is a better place if you get enough sleep.

“We don’t prioritise sleep enough.

“If you’re feeling crappy or if you’re wanting to improve people’s health, we don’t tend to think of sleep.”

The research was based on a Māori proverb about starting well to grow well.

“If you can grow kids that sleep well and feel good then you will get future leaders in the end.”

The research involved three different projects with different designs and methods to test different ways of helping children in New Zealand sleep well from infancy through to adolescence.

University of Otago researchers Dr Justine Camp (left), and Professor Rachael Taylor. Photo / Peter Mcintosh, Otago Daily Times

There would be a family-based intervention that started at pregnancy and involved the entire family, a child-focused online intervention that focused on older primary-aged children and early adolescents, and a school-wide intervention that focused on older teenagers.

The programme grant funding announced yesterday, alongside funding announced last week, will support 31 research projects to benefit the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders.

Alongside the five $5 million project grants, a rangahau hauora Māori health project, a Pacific health project and an additional 24 project grants — each running over three years — also received grants.

A 12-month $1 million extension for the existing Dunedin Study Programme Grant was also awarded.