Late Sleep Hurts Children's Brains

Once deprived of sleep, a child's brain needs deeper sleep, especially in these specific parts of the brain.

The study observed the brain activity of 13 children between the ages of 5 and 12 during two nights, a week away from each other while the young slept in their homes.

On the first occasion, they slept on the usual watch, and the second time they were allowed to stay up late.

Scans showed that their brains otherwise responded to sleep deprivation, compared with adults.

The low amount of sleep led to increased need for deep sleep in those parts of the developing brain. The effect of deep sleep appears, not in frontal regions of the brain, as in adults, but in the back.

This may be a temporary effect, meaning that it only appears during the important stages of brain development in childhood or adolescence.

Scientists believe that sleep quality is responsible for the proper development of nervous relationships during childhood and adolescence. So it is important that your child get sufficient sleep during this stage of his life. According to international guidelines, it is recommended that children aged 6-13 sleep 9-11 hours a night.

The study was conducted by the University of Zurich and published in the scientific magazine “Frontiers in Human Neuroscience”.