Major changes take place in the brains of children who do not get enough sleep

Pre-teen school-age children who slept less than nine hours a night had significant negative brain changes related to memory, intelligence, and behavior. This is the result of a study involving over 8. young volunteers.

1. Researchers in Maryland investigated how sleep deprivation affects memory, concentration, and behavior in school-age children
2. They found that babies sleeping less than nine hours had less gray matter in certain parts of the brain
3. What surprised researchers most was the fact that these changes persisted in the brain for up to two years
4. You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page

Children need up to 12 hours of sleep

A team from the University of Maryland highlighted in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health how important it is to provide children with adequate sleep. As recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, children between the ages of six and 12 need nine to as many as 12 hours of sleep a night.

The authors of the new study analyzed sleep data for 8300 children between the ages of nine and 10, participating in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) research project. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the study is the largest long-term child brain development project in the US. It included, inter alia, medical history, MRI images of the brains and questionnaires completed by children and their parents.

«We discovered that children who did not get enough sleep – slept less than nine hours during the night at baseline – they had less gray matter in certain parts of the brain associated with concentration, memory, and behavior controlthan those who had healthy sleep habits »says Dr. Ze Wang, author of the study. – «These differences persisted for two more years. This is a disturbing finding that suggests the long-term negative effects of sleep deprivation ».

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Further observations of the children revealed other dependencies. As it turned out, those who slept enough over the next two years naturally needed less and less sleep. In the shortage of such evolution, the researchers did not notice.

Scientists took into account a variety of associated factors such as socioeconomic status, gender and physical development progress. “We tried to compare the two groups as closely as possible to be able to fully understand the long-term effects of too little sleep on a child’s brain,” emphasizes Dr. Wang.

“Additional studies are needed to confirm our findings and see if any interventions can improve sleep habits and reverse neurological damage,” he adds.

Lack of movement and smartphones do not help to calm down

Eksperci z American Academy of Pediatrics meanwhile, they encourage parents to develop appropriate habits in their children. They say, for example, about taking care of a constant routine, encouraging traffic during the day, limiting the time spent in front of screens and giving them up one hour before bedtime.

“In an eventful childhood, with days filled with lessons and activities, sleep can sometimes be neglected. Now we can see how harmful it can be for the child’s development »- says prof. E. Albert Reece, dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. (PAP)

Marek Matacz

mat / zan /

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