Early bedtime benefits: young children who sleep more score higher in school

Setting bedtime rules encourages the healthy development of preschool-aged children. In an abstract (#0040) being presented at SLEEP 2010 in San Antonio, children who had a regular bedtime scored higher on language, reading and math assessments.

Earlier bedtimes were linked to higher scores in most of the developmental measures.

Children who slept less than 11 hours per night, the AASM’s recommended minimum for preschoolers, scored lower on phonological awareness, literacy and early math skills. Insufficient sleep may hurt a child’s development and school achievement.

The findings were based on a sample of 8,000 children assessed in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Birth Cohort. The longitudinal study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics followed children’s health, development, care and education from birth to the start of kindergarten.

In the government study parents reported usual bedtime and wake time. The children took a shortened set of items from standardized assessments to determine developmental outcomes.

The principal author of the study recommends parents help their preschooler get healthy sleep and encourage development by setting a regularly bedtime and establishing routines such as bedtime readings or stories.

Image by Sarah Gilbert

Study: insomnia linked to earlier death

Having any of the four types of chronic insomnia carries an increased risk of death, according to a new abstract (#0607) on display at SLEEP 2010.

The 20-year study followed tracked the health problems and sleeping habits more than 2,200 people. Each subject responded to two to three mailed surveys in 1989, 1994 and 2000. Using the social security death index, researchers found 128 study participants died prior to 2010.

Those who reported having insomnia in at least two surveys were three times more likely to have died than people who didn’t have insomnia. The risk of death only slightly differed for each of the four types of insomnia: waking up too early, getting back to sleep, getting to sleep and staying asleep.

The results were adjusted for body mass index, age, gender and other self-reported medical conditions.

Sleepwalking into adolescence: parasomnias tend to persist past childhood

Childhood parasomnias like sleepwalking or bedwetting don’t necessarily stop at adolescence. The remission rates for these pediatric problems are actually quite low heading into the teenage years.

The research abstract (#251), presented as a poster today at SLEEP 2010, compared parasomnias incidents rates for children ages 6 to 11 over the course of less than five years.

The children’s parents completed comprehensive sleep habits surveys at the beginning and end points of the study.

Results show the remission rate for children with sleepwalking was only 1.9 percent after five years. Remission rates remained low for bedwetting (5.2 percent), sleep terrors (4.8 percent) and sleep talking (3.5).

Sleep talking was the most common parasomnia for adolescents. 22.3 percent of parents reported their child talked in his or her sleep. 15.2 percent of those cases were new.

The incidence rate was 2.6 percent for new cases of sleep terrors, and less than one percent for both bedwetting and sleepwalking.

Learn more about sleepwalking. bedwetting and nightmares at sleepeducation.com

Sexsomnia: it’s more common than you think

The description is eye-opening, but even more shocking is how often sexsomnia occurs. New research suggests nearly eight percent of patients at sleep disorder clinics have Sexsomnia. The abstract (#252) will be displayed later this morning at SLEEP 2010.

The prevalence of sexsomnia for men, at 11 percent, was nearly three times higher in than for women.

The study is the first to examine the frequency of sexsomnia. The authors of the study stress the outcome only reflects patients at sleep clinics. They estimate the rate would be much lower among the general population.

Researchers reviewed a questionnaire filled out by 832 patients who were evaluated at sleep disorders clinics.

Only 4 patients complained of sexsomnia during a consultation with sleep specialists. However, 63 of the 832 reported the key symptoms of sexsomnia.

The parasomnia happens when a person unknowingly engages in sexual activity while asleep. According to the The International Classification of Sleep Disorder, Second Edition, published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine sexsomnia predominantly occurs during confusional arousals and sleepwalking episodes.

You can find the abstract in the SLEEP 2010 supplement, available for download as a pdf.

Blogger is back online, SLEEP 2010 updates to resume

Due to technical problems on our host site Blogger's end, we've been unable to update the Sleep Education blog as promised until now. We've been providing updates from SLEEP 2010 via Twitter and on Sleepeducation.com. Because Google has fixed the problem look for updates from now until Wednesday, the end of the annual meeting.