Cheyenne Simpson

Education & Teacher Training, Early Childhood Studies, Teaching & Learning Support Primary (Blackburn) | Year 3 | Degree: BA Hons Early Childhood Studies

Does sleep deprivation impact children's holistic development?

The impact of the quality and quantity of sleep is often considered regarding good health, cognitive development and overall function. We are taught from a young age the importance of sleep as it is imposed on us from our parents and medical professionals, despite this it is estimated that a quarter of children under the age of five do not receive adequate sleep (Pacheco and Vyas, 2020), so the question remains; do we understand why sleep is so important? This research project aims to explore the impact sleep deprivation has on not only children’s holistic development but also the impact a poor sleep routine can have on families (Institute of health visiting, 2020). Additionally, the research project will explore what support is available for parents from both a professional outlook as well as parents individual experiences. To ensure validity of the research the primary research will be conducted through triangulation, using two different approaches to collecting data, the primary research will be conducted through a focus group with parents of children aged 0-8, and a questionnaire aimed at medical professionals will be carried out to ensure non-bias research (Carter, et al., 2014).

Cheyenne Simpson

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Cheyenne Simpson

Education & Teacher Training, Early Childhood Studies, Teaching & Learning Support Primary (Blackburn) | Year 3 | Degree: BA Hons Early Childhood Studies

Does sleep deprivation impact children's holistic development?

Research Aims: Aim 1: To examine if there is a correlation between children’s sleep patterns and children’s holistic development. Aim 2: To explore how professionals support and advise parents on sleep routines and the importance of sleep.

Background of Study

Over the years many studies have been conducted around the topic of sleep with much research suggesting there is a correlation between sleep and cognitive development, in a study conducted by the sleep foundation it was found that higher quality sleep improves both short-term and long-term cognitive performance (Suni and Vyas, 2020), suggesting that the correlation between sleep quality can impact cognitive development. Similarly in a meta-analytic review conducted on children aged 5–12-year-olds it was found that there was a positive relationship between sleep duration and cognitive performance (Sun, et al., 2018). Although much research suggests there appears to be a correlation between children’s sleep habits and development, the study intends to explore further into how children sleep patterns and habits impact holistic development, e.g., naps. The project also aims to explore the impact sleep patterns of a child may have on parents and families and how much of information and advice regarding sleep is made readily available to parents (Institute of health visiting, 2020).

Methodology

The research project is still ongoing so final conclusions cannot yet be drawn; however, some recommendations can be made based on the secondary research that has been conducted. Recommendation 1: More research is needed to close the gaps in research on sleeps impact on children and young people. Although this research project has highlighted gaps within the research, more funding and a much larger participant group is needed to make concrete conclusions on the impacts of sleep on holistic development in children. Recommendation 2: Guidance such as the safer sleep document and the recommended sleep chart should be made more widely available, and more attention should be brought to these important documents as they may inform parents who are otherwise unaware of the importance of safe sleep and the amount of sleep their children and themselves require to function effectively. Recommendation 3: More support and advise on sleep should be made available for parents, specifically after parents stop receiving visits from the health visitor and when their children move past the toddler age as there is little to no official guidance on sleep habits and needs for children past the age of four up until the teenage years. (cited in Tham, Schneider and Broekman, 2017)

Findings

Through the secondary research some findings became abundantly clear. Below I have concluded the top three most consistent findings across sleep studies on children aged between 0-16. 1. Sleep plays a large role in memory consolidation across all ages. Research in this area particularly focuses on babies ages ten months to three years of age - it is thought that much research on cognitive development is conducted on children of this age is because during the period between 0 - 3 years is when the most changes occur to the structure and development of the brain. It has been theorised that therefore babies and children need more sleep to function and learn than older children and adults. 2. The amount of sleep received has the biggest impact on emotional development in teenagers. Again, most research on the teenage bracket focuses on the hormonal changes in the body and external factors such as school and pressures of society as these are often considered to be the biggest influences in teenagers’ lives. There is a much smaller selection of cognitive based research projects in adolescence making it difficult to draw conclusions on the impact of sleep on cognitive development in older children and adolescents. 3. There is a gap in the research. Among the lack of studies on emotional development in babies and young children in conjunction with sleep patterns and the lack of research into sleeps impact on cognitive development in adolescence, there is also a gap regarding the age on which these studies are conducted. There is an abundance of research on infants and toddlers, a moderate amount on adolescents and only a handful of studies on preschool to school age children, creating a large gap in overall research and understanding of the importance of sleep on holistic development across all ages. (cited in Tham, Schneider and Broekman, 2017)

Do you know how much sleep you should be receiving for your age?

The Sleep Foundations has broken down the recommended sleep times into nine age groups:

(Suni, 2021)

Conclusions and Recommendations

The research has been obtained through both primary and secondary sources. Both research methods for the primary data collection fall under the qualitative category (Flick, 2018). The primary research has been collected through two different forms, the first being a questionnaire aimed at health care professionals. The second method of primary data collection will be conducted via a focus group, the participants will need to meet a criteria of being parents to children between the ages of five and ten years old as the secondary research undertaken highlighted a gap in sleep research on children between the ages.

References

Flick, U. (2018) An introduction to qualitative research: Sage. Institute of Health Visiting (2020) What do parents want from a health visiting service? Available at: https://ihv.org.uk/news-and-views/news/what-do-parents-want-from-a-health-visiting-service/ (Accessed 5^th March 2022) Sun, W., Li, S. X., Jiant, Y., Xu, X., Spruyt, K., Tseng, C., Jiang, F. (2018) ‘A Community-based study of sleep and cognitive development in infants and toddlers’, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 14(6). Suni, E. (2021) How much sleep do we really need? Available at: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need (Accessed: 5^th March 2022) Tham, E. K. H., Schneider, N., Broekman, B. F. P. (2017) ‘Infant sleep and its relation with cognition and growth: a narrative review’, Nature and Science of Sleep, 9, pp. 135 – 149.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my tutors from the Blackpool and the Fylde college for putting their beliefs in me and giving me the confidence to go further in my academic study than I ever thought I would.

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