Study: Sleep can make children smarter and calmer

A study claims that changing how long a child sleeps can make the child both smarter and calmer.

For a long time we have thought that sleep affects children’s emotional and cognitive functioning.  However, few studies have been done in youths to verify this.  Just such a study was performed in the November issue of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology, called Manipulating Sleep Duration Alters Emotional Functioning and Cognitive Performance in Children.

In the study, 32 children (8-12 years old) wore devices that can detect sleep, called actigraphs.  These are worn on the wrist, similar to a watch.  They detect motion or its absence and can differentiate sleep from wake.  The children were initially studied under their usual sleep habits for one week.  Then during week two, half were deprived of one hour of sleep (short sleep) and the other half had their sleep lengthened by one hour (long sleep).  During week three, each group was exposed to the opposite condition.

The sleep manipulation ended on a Friday.  The next morning the children were put through a number of tests of cognitive function such as short term and working memory. They were also tested for emotional responses to positive and negative images.  The parents filled out detailed questionnaires about their children’s cognitive ability and emotional responses during the test period.

The results were quite impressive.  Parents reported that their children had more difficulty regulating their emotions when they were in the short sleep compared to the long sleep duration group.  In addition, the children, when tested, expressed far fewer positive responses to various stimuli when they were in the short sleep group.

Additionally, short term and working memory, as well as math fluency, were found to be negatively affected in the short sleep group.  Both parental observations and testing demonstrated significant problems with attention as well.

This is a very important study.  It demonstrates that reducing normal sleep by only one hour per day can have far-reaching consequences on children’s cognitive abilities and emotions.  We know that children in this age group should be sleeping 10 to 11 hours a night.  However, in reality, according to some studies 30 percent or more are getting far less than that.

The conclusions to be drawn are that in many instances problems with memory, attention, and emotional control may be linked to lack of sleep.  The take home message is that teachers, parents, and the children themselves need to be aware of the importance of sleep.  Apparently, there is no substitute for it.

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'Laughing gas' sedation calms pediatric hospital patients

'Laughing gas' sedation calms pediatric hospital patients

I am at my cerebral palsy/ "Botox" clinic today in san Antonio. Its amazing to see how cal kids are with sedation. Laughing gas makes this quick and easy.

SAN ANTONIO -- Doctors at a San Antonio hospital are using a new tool to make their smallest patients more comfortable. It’s a sedation method dentists have used for years.
This is a less invasive way to sedate children for procedures. All it requires is a mask and about three minutes.

Keeping the smallest of patients calm and tranquil during procedures is no small task. Many diagnostic or therapeutic interventions require IV sedation where children are unconscious. For some patients, though, there’s another less invasive alternative.

Gas. It’s nitrous oxide, the same stuff you’d call “laughing gas” at the dentist.

At North Central Baptist Hospital in Stone Oak, the pediatric sedation unit has been using this approach of the last two months with great success.

“They’re awake the whole time,” explained Dr. Daniel Sedillo, a pediatric critical care specialist. “You can talk to them and tell them to take a deep breath or to relax and once you take the gas off within two or three minutes they’re back to their playful self as they were before.”

The gas can be kept up for about half an hour and allows doctors to do everything from injections to biopsies, from spinal tapes to MRI scans.

The children have less angst and fear and the doctors have a cooperative patient to work on.

“The physicians who were doing the procedure were very happy that they were able to do the procedure comfortably without the child moving a whole lot and not having to see tears or screaming or anything like that,” Sedillo remarked.

Using nitrous oxide as a sedative means parents don’t have to worry as much about what their children eat before the procedure. The recovery to full consciousness is faster.

http://www.kens5.com/home/Laughing-gas-sedation-calms-pediatric-hospital-patients-103462504.html