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Sleep Interventions and the Prevention of Pediatric Anxiety: A Systematic Review

Katherine M Kidwell1, Alison Vrabec2, Lyric K Tully2

  • 1Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, 352 Marley Education Center, Syracuse, NY, 13224, USA. kmkidwel@syr.edu.

Current Psychiatry Reports
|July 13, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Pediatric sleep interventions effectively reduce anxiety symptoms and prevent anxiety disorders in youth. Sleep health is a crucial, accessible target for anxiety prevention, with anxiety sensitivity as a potential mechanism to explore.

Area of Science:

  • Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
  • Sleep Medicine
  • Anxiety Disorders Research

Background:

  • Anxiety disorders affect a significant portion of children, adolescents, and young adults.
  • Inadequate intervention and remission rates highlight the need for anxiety disorder prevention.
  • Sleep problems are a recognized, modifiable risk factor preceding anxiety in youth.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To systematically review recent pediatric sleep interventions and their impact on anxiety outcomes.
  • To explore anxiety sensitivity as an understudied mechanism linking sleep problems and anxiety.
  • To emphasize sleep health as a key component of pediatric anxiety prevention.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic review of 21 intervention and experimental studies on pediatric sleep interventions.
  • Inclusion of recent studies examining anxiety sensitivity in the context of sleep and anxiety.
  • Analysis of anxiety symptoms, anxiety disorder onset, and the role of anxiety sensitivity.

Main Results:

  • Sleep interventions demonstrated efficacy in reducing anxiety symptoms and preventing the onset of anxiety disorders.
  • Three studies supported anxiety sensitivity as a relevant factor in the sleep-anxiety relationship.
  • Sleep health is identified as a scalable and accessible target for anxiety reduction.

Conclusions:

  • Pediatric sleep interventions are effective in managing and preventing anxiety disorders.
  • Sleep health represents an important, accessible target for public health initiatives in youth anxiety prevention.
  • Future research should investigate anxiety sensitivity as a mechanism in pediatric sleep and anxiety.
Abstract

Keywords:
AdolescenceAnxiety preventionAnxiety sensitivityCognitive behavioral therapyInsomniaSleep intervention

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