Getting enough shut-eye really matters for children, and those who are poor need it the most
We all know kids, especially, need a good night's sleep in order to thrive. After studying thousands of children, psychologist Mona El-Sheikh, a professor of child development, says children who don't get enough shut-eye suffer serious consequences.
"They do not concentrate as well or perform well on tasks that are complex," she explains. "Even worse, they may be more likely to be depressed, sick or obese. Sleep is very important for brain development and also for emotional regulation."
As it turns out, what sleep gives, and what the lack of it takes away, may be magnified by poverty. "Poverty is a very, very major stressor for our children," says El-Sheikh.
El-Sheikh and her team at Auburn University are studying sleep deprivation and how it impacts kids, including those who are otherwise deprived. One week before a child comes to the lab for tests, he or she is asked to wear an actigraph to bed for seven nights. The actigraph straps onto the wrist like a watch and monitors the child's movements during the night. It also reveals how many hours of sleep the child gets each night.
On average, El-Sheikh says the children studied get about seven and a half hours of sleep. Experts say children ages five to 10 need approximately 10 to 11 hours of sleep a night.
Once their sleep is assessed, children who have volunteered for the study go through a battery of tests at El-Sheikh's lab. Team members attach leads to the kids' bodies to monitor how they react to stress--whether it's a faster heart beat or sweaty palms. Then the researchers ratchet up the stress.
Children listen to two people having an argument. They are given a time deadline to perform a series of exercises. They're asked to figure out a Rubik's cube, and trace a star while looking in a mirror--a lot more difficult than it sounds. El-Sheikh says the findings are clear. Sleep matters more for kids, and those who are poor need it most.
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