Sleep is an essential part of children’s overall health, but it can also be an important factor in their behavior, as getting enough sleep can help infants combat the effects of stress. This conclusion was described in a study by the Institute for Youth Development at the University of Georgia (United States)published in the magazine ‘Sleep Health‘. In research, it was shown that better sleep can reduce the negative influence of environmental stressors on impulsive behavior in the very young.
“Stressful environments have been shown to cause adolescents to seek immediate rewards rather than delayed rewards, but there are also adolescents in stressful environments who are not impulsive. We analyze what explains that link and what differentiates some people from others. One mechanism that we found is sleep,” he explained. linhao zhang the lead author of the study, a fourth-year doctoral student at the Faculty of Family and Family of the UGA.
The researchers analyzed data from the “Adolescent Cognitive Brain Development Study,” a multi-year, US-funded study of brain development. National Institutes of Health. Using data from 11,858 children ages 9 to 10, they found that sleep deprivation and long sleep latency were significantly linked to impulsive behaviors later in life.
Sleep problems, such as sleep latency and impulsive behaviors, were tested at multiple times over two years. When children slept less than the recommended nine hours or took more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, there was a strong link with impulsive behaviors in the future. Some of these behaviors included acting without a plan, thrill or sensation seeking, and a lack of perseverance.
However, sleep was a mediator between these actions, and when sleep problems were absent during the study, impulsivity was also less likely to be observed in the future. “Neurological hyperconnectivity, in which adolescents’ brains remained highly active even when they were not actively engaged in tasks, also played a role,” Zhang said.
This study looked at the brain network related to goal-directed behaviors. “We can look at the default mode network and the regions of emotion regulation. It is also possible that this hyperactivity and ADHD are highly correlated, so in a future study we could test it in a more clinical setting. That could have big implications for intervention or counseling programs,” the researcher stated.
“These findings not only highlight the role of sleep in cognitive and behavioral development, but could also inform interventions to aid in the psychological development of children facing stressors at home,” Zhang said, adding: “If they want to Developing interventions for people in stressful environments is very expensive and sometimes takes generational work to change. However, sleep is a modifiable behavior and these changes can be cost effective.”
In addition, the author assures that too little sleep can be a problem even outside of stressful environments. For example, teens often have a circadian rhythm that is geared toward staying up late and sleeping late, but starting school early and completing homework late at night can throw that rhythm off.
“Many teens don’t have enough time to sleep and are sleep deprived. This study shows why it is important to promote a longer duration of sleep, delaying the start of school or establishing routines so that adolescents know: “Okay, after this event, I’m going to bed”, explained the author and concluded: “For people who may be in disadvantaged backgrounds, if we can provide some strategies that help with sleep, it can have a positive impact, especially for adolescents who are at such a critical stage of development for their brain development.”
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