University of Guelph-Humber

Fourth-year Kinesiology students find unique way to educate kids about health issue.

Drew is a giraffe. And he’s preparing for two important events: the big race and the big test at school.

Drew likes to stay out after dinner to play with his friends, but his mom keeps calling him inside to get ready for bed.

“His friends always make fun of him,” said Marieangela Giuliano.

She co-created a children’s book with classmates Giuseppina Acquisto, Anthony Guerriero and Kerri-Lee Brown to show kids the importance of sleep. The fourth-year students came up with the story for an end-of-semester assignment for Dr. Kerry Ritchie’s Human Development and Aging class.

Recently the class showcased their work in the University of Guelph-Humber’s atrium. (Brown, the book's illustrator, had varsity hockey and was unable to attend the showcase.)

L to R: Anthony Guerriero, Giuseppina Acquisto and Marieangela Giuliano (Photo: Flinn)

Back to Drew.

Well-rested, he wins the race and aces the test. His bleary-eyed friends don’t do as well.

“People are unaware of the actual effects that are caused by sleep deprivation,” said Acquisto, pointing to adverse effects on cognitive performance and behavioural problems linked to lack and loss of sleep.

“As the prevalence of obesity and diabetes is increasing, the amount of sleep children, and people generally, are getting at the same time is decreasing,” said Giuliano. “There’s a real link between the two.”

Certain hormones, which are released during sleep, help prevent diabetes and obesity. The regulation of these hormones may be disrupted by sleep deprivation, according to the students.

“You can’t make it up by getting 14 hours of sleep in one day. It doesn’t add up like that,” said Gurriero.

Rather than lecture the students the students kept their audience in mind.

“It’s the best medium to reach a child,” said Gurriero of the storybook form. “You want to inform the parents but you want to involve the kids other than just having parents telling them what to do. You want them to understand it on their own.”

“And it rhymes,” added Acquisto.

Winning a race and getting a good mark on a test are “applicable” – to use Gurriero’s word – to a child’s life and experience.

“So when mom and dad try to implement more sleep, the child won’t be as reluctant hopefully,” said Giuliano.

For parents, the students include a pamphlet on the inside back cover. It charts the amount of sleep children should get at different ages.

Kerry Ritchie was impressed with the insightful, innovative ways all the students approached this last assignment of the semester. This was the first time she asked them to produce a research paper on their selected topic and then to “translate it into a different format that would get their research message across to a different target audience.”

An assistant professor at the University of Guelph’s School of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, Ritchie has taught in the University of Guelph-Humber’s Kinesiology program for the last four years – from its beginning. Ritchie’s own research interests are in diet and exercise and their role in preventing diabetes and obesity.