Lack of sleep may disrupt development of a child's brain

Conclusion This cross sectional study aimed to see whether sleep restriction in children could affect brain activity in a similar way to adults, and whether this may have an effect on brain development. They found that sleep deprivation does lead to deeper sleep patterns in the side and back regions of the brain, and this also seemed to be linked with an effect on the myelin coating certain nerve fibres. This potentially indicates that sleep deprivation may affect the developing brain of school age children – but this is quite a big leap. The findings might seem worrying to parents and children but it's important to note the number of limitations to this study. Firstly, this is a very small study including only 13 healthy children without sleeping problems. The same findings in these children may not be repeated in another sample of children. They also can't tell us whether similar or different effects would be observed in children who have sleep difficulties. For example, children who regularly have reduced or disrupted sleep for whatever reason may have developed adaptive mechanisms. As the study did not take measurements over a very long period of time we also don't know whether the observed changes are long lasting. This would need to be assessed in further research. Finally, we have no idea whether the effects observed would actually have an impact on the child's learning, development or day-to-day function. Trouble sleeping can be a problem for children and adults, ho...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pregnancy/child Neurology Source Type: news