Strict bedtime routines make children’s brains bigger and better
STICKING to family routines and ensuring a strict bedtime could help children have healthier and bigger brains, a study suggests.
The importance of sleep duration and quality on child development is well known. Poor sleep is linked to slow brain development, poor cognitive function and below average academic performance.
A new study from the Colorado State University has found that children in poorer families tend to have worse sleep and therefore underdeveloped brains.
The scientists said the reason for this is because families with less money tend to have more disruptive home lives and fewer routines, and therefore children have poor sleep.
Sticking to as many routines as possible when times are tough could help protect children from the damage the lack of sleep can cause their brains, the scientists said.
Weekly “family time”, doing homework at the same time every day, a consistent bedtime ritual, eating dinner as a family every night, setting chores and an unmovable bedtime can help ensure a child has good habits and therefore a good night’s sleep.
Scientists collected data from 94 children aged between five and nine from a variety of backgrounds and measured their brains with MRI scans. They asked their parents detailed questions about their life, status, income and family routines.
Analysis revealed that less frequent family routines were linked to shorter sleep during the week which was subsequently associated with changes in the child’s brain structure.
Those who had less sleep were more likely to have thinner regions of the brain in the amygdala as well as parts of frontal cortex. These areas control skills related to language, behaviour, sensory perception and emotional processing.
Dr Emily Merz, a researcher on the study which was published in the Brain and Behaviour journal; said “Our findings suggest sleep insufficiency may be associated not only with brain structure but also the function of emotion processing brain circuits in children.”