Cognition and objectively measured sleep duration in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Michelle A Short, Sarah Blunden, Gabrielle Rigney, Lisa Matricciani, Scott Coussens, Chelsea M Reynolds, Barbara Galland

Journal: Sleep health 2019;4(3):292-300

PMID: 29776624

Full Text on Elsevier Science View on PubMed

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Sleep recommendations are widely used to guide communities on children's sleep needs. Following recent adjustments to guidelines by the National Sleep Foundation and the subsequent consensus statement by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, we undertook a systematic literature search to evaluate the current evidence regarding relationships between objectively measured sleep duration and cognitive function in children aged 5 to 13 years.

METHODS

Cognitive function included measures of memory, attention, processing speed, and intelligence in children aged 5 to 13 years. Keyword searches of 7 databases to December 2016 found 23 meeting inclusion criteria from 137 full articles reviewed, 19 of which were suitable for meta-analysis.

RESULTS

A significant effect (r = .06) was found between sleep duration and cognition, suggesting that longer sleep durations were associated with better cognitive functioning. Analyses of different cognitive domains revealed that full/verbal IQ was significantly associated with sleep loss, but memory, fluid IQ, processing speed and attention were not. Comparison of study sleep durations with current sleep recommendations showed that most children studied had sleep durations that were not within the range of recommended sleep. As such, the true effect of sleep loss on cognitive function may be obscured in these samples, as most children were sleep restricted.

CONCLUSIONS

Future research using more rigorous experimental methodologies is needed to properly elucidate the relationship between sleep duration and cognition in this age group.

Address: Centre for Sleep Research, University of South Australia, Australia; School of Psychology, Flinders University, Australia.; Appleton Institute, Central Queensland University, Australia.; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.; Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), Sansom Institute for Health Research, University of South Australia, Australia.; Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, University of South Australia, Australia.; School of Psychology, Flinders University, Australia.; Department of Women's & Children's Health, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, New Zealand. Electronic address: [email protected].

DOI: 10.1016/j.sleh.2018.02.004

Link outs

Free resources

Other Literature Sources:

https://scite.ai/reports/29776624

Research Materials:

https://antibodies.cancer.gov/detail/CPTC-HLA-B-1

Subscription / membership required

Full Text Sources:

MeSH Terms: Child, Cognition, Humans, Sleep, Time Factors