If you have not already done so, please read Blog Posts 1 through 5 that describe how sleep is important and beneficial. I will post specific information for parents and children based on my book, “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.” Please do not be put off by my book’s length. This is a reference book. Read only the topic of interest to you.
“Sleep is a critical bio-regulatory process facilitating neural restoration and growth as well as supporting cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning among youth.”
Within the brain there are neural networks, a collection of multiple brain regions, that appear to have fairly specific functions. One neural network, “the DMN, operates in tandem with core attention and emotional regulation brain networks.”
Within a single network, the intra-network connectivity or coherence may be high or low.
Between different networks, the inter-network connectivity refers to multiple interactions between different functional brain networks.
In a study of 12 year-olds, one group showed low intra (or within the DMN) connectivity and high inter (or between the DMN and other networks) connectivity. These children had the shortest sleep durations. One year later, this group of children had more externalizing problems.
The difference between the shortest sleep duration group and the longest sleep duration group was only 11 minutes!
Additionally, “previous research showed that children with these [network connectivity patterns] were widely observed in individuals with ADHD, attention problems, and callous-unemotional trait.”
In another study of children 3-8 years-old who had both externalizing problems and sleep difficulties, teaching the parents how to help their child sleep better resulted in “fewer externalizing behaviors and improved sleep habits”, that is, a reduction in the number of parent-reported night wakings that suggest that their children had acquired more self-soothing skills. Although the sleep duration post-intervention did not change, the apparent more consolidated sleep is healthier sleep than is fragmented sleep.
Healthy Sleep Habits → Healthy Brain Development
For more information on how healthy sleep builds healthy brains:
Blog Post 38
Blog Post 200
Blog Post 221
Blog Post 230A
Blog Post 228C
Blog Post 229
