Short sleep duration is associated with teacher-reported inattention and cognitive problems in healthy school-aged children

Abstract

PurposePediatric, clinical, and research data suggest that insufficient sleep causes tiredness and daytime difficulties in terms of attention-focusing, learning, and impulse modulation in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or in those with ADHD and primary sleep disorders. The aim of the present study was to examine whether sleep duration was associated with ADHD-like symptoms in healthy, well-developing school-aged children.Patients and methodsThirty-five healthy children (20 boys, 15 girls), aged 7–11 years participated in the present study. Each child wore an actigraphic device on their nondominant wrist for two nights prior to use of polysomnography to assess their typical sleep periods. On the third night, sleep was recorded via ambulatory assessment of sleep architecture in the child’s natural sleep environment employing portable polysomnography equipment. Teachers were asked to report symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity on the revised Conners Teacher Rating Scale.ResultsShorter sleep duration was associated with higher levels of teacher-reported ADHD-like symptoms in the domains of cognitive problems and inattention. No significant association between sleep duration and hyperactivity symptoms was evident.ConclusionShort sleep duration was found to be related to teacher-derived reports of ADHD-like symptoms of inattention and cognitive functioning in healthy children.

Sleep problems in excessive technology use among adolescent: a systemic review and meta-analysis

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The effect of sleep restriction on neurobehavioural functioning in normally developing children and adolescents: Insights from the attention behaviour and sleep laboratory

“…It was found that short sleep duration was associated with teacher-reported inattention and cognitive problems of healthy school-aged children [33]. Although the findings are important, the study was correlative in nature, as is most research in the field and causality could thus not be determined.…”

“…For the most part, the domain of NBF [12,41,42,46,47]. Other domains of NBF assessed were arousal [49], sustained attention [8,[43][44][45]48,50], divided attention and flexibility [48], working memory and fluid intelligence [40] and emotional lability [33]. In studies that assessed sustained attention, it was found that sleep restriction enhanced reaction time thus worsening performance on the NBF task [13,40,50].…”

Relationship between Sleep Habits and Daytime Sleepiness, Inattention, and Aggressive Behavior among Taiwanese Kindergarten Children

“…Insufficient or short sleep duration may play a role in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [27,28]. This finding revealed that kindergarten children who were 6 years old and girl had longer attention spans than 3 or 4 year olds and boy, respectively.…”