Children's Brains Make Connections During Sleep, Study Says

Holly, a new kindergarten teacher, was puzzled by the behavior of some of her students.

Sam, a precocious 5-year-old, could already add and subtract and spell two-syllable words, but he hated coloring and projects with construction paper.

Polly, an equally bright 5-year-old, could draw surprisingly realistic pictures of pets and people, but whenever there was activity that involved counting she would tell Holly, the teacher, that her stomach hurt.

What could explain the differences between children like Polly and Sam? Did Sam like math because he was a boy and Polly prefer art because she was a girl? Or did they have different talents and limitations? Or maybe there was another solution.

Left-Brain, Right-Brain, Whole-Brain

Every teacher knows that different students have different learning styles. Some children learn by listening to words, and some children learn by looking at pictures. Some children prefer talking, and others prefer physical activity.

Teachers are taught to recognize left-brain (analytic) and right-brain (artistic) tendencies in their students and in themselves, but more and more teachers and parents are becoming aware that children are also capable of "whole-brain" activities, in which they use both their analytical and artistic skills to accomplish a task or just to have fun. But for children (and teachers) to use their whole brains, the two sides of the brain have to be linked. This linkage, it turns out, is a process that the brain accomplishes during sleep.

The Brain Wires Itself During Sleep

A new study in the medical journal Brain Sciences reports that some strands of myelin, the "insulation" that helps neurons in the brain make new connections without "short circuits," grows as much as 20% faster in young children's brains while they sleep. Scientists at the University of Colorado at Boulder gave sleep encephalograms to children aged 2, 3, and 5. They found that the myelin coating of neurons forming connections between the left and right sides of the brain, which are important to both impulse control and creativity, were mostly formed during sleep. They found that myelin in the individual sides of the brain actually deteriorated during sleep, so the thought processes became less left-brain or right-brain but more whole-brain when children were fully rested at night.

Read More: Don't Ruin Your Sleep - Stop Staring At A Screen Before Bedtime

University of Colorado researcher Dr. Salome Kurth says that the genes that code the proteins used to make myelin are switched on during sleep, while genes that initiate an "auto destruct" sequence in some tissues in the brain are activated by missing sleep. The older children get, the stronger the connections need to be, and the more noticeable the effects of sleep deprivation. 

By the time children reach the later elementary and middle school grades 4, 5, and 6 (usually age ages 9 to 11), sleep encephalograms can even predict their scores on tests that measure working memory (the ability to keep facts in mind long enough to solve problems) and scores on general intelligence tests. To a certain extent, we all inherit our ability to sleep well, or not, but there is a lot parents can do to ensure that their children get the sleep they need to develop intellectual abilities that will serve them all their lives.

How To Make Sure Your Child Gets Brain-Building Sleep

Children who don't get enough sleep act very differently from sleep-deprived adults. When adults don't get enough sleep, they tend to be drowsy, sluggish, and irritable. When kids don't get enough sleep, they tend to be hyper, irritated, inattentive, and annoyed. They become agitated and withdrawn at the same time--much as they might when they get to stay up to watch a scary movie on the weekend.

Both children and adults who are sleep-deprived, however, tend to gain weight. The brain needs downtime to process the hunger hormones, such as ghrelin, that can cause the body literally to ache when the stomach is not being fed. The more sleep a child (or an adult) gets, the easier it is to control appetite the next day.

What can you do to make sure your child gets enough sleep to build a healthy, well-connected brain? Here are some basic suggestions.

• Create a calm and predictable bedtime routine. Make sure children don't eat snacks, especially sugary snacks, just before bedtime. Avoid soft drinks that contain caffeine. Provide activities that calm kids down, such as bedtime stories, particularly repeating bedtime stories, taking a bath, and hugs and kisses.
• Stick to a predictable schedule. If children are put to bed at the same time every night, their bodies gradually come to expect to fall asleep at that time. Staying up late occasionally is OK--but never during the week. Even teenagers need to get to bed on time, no matter how pressing school or work may be.
• Gently resist stalling tactics. Children often resist going to bed. And don't contribute to stalling tactics. Parents who have not seen their children during the day often want to visit with them past bedtime. While it's wonderful to see your kids every day, it's not wonderful to make them sleep deprived.
• Don't get in bed with your child. If you child needs your presence to fall asleep, what will they do when you cannot be there?
• Let your children fall asleep on their own. Don't let them fall asleep on you. It's better to put children in bed when they seem sleepy and happy, than for them to depend on physical contact with you to fall asleep.

Read More: Conflict And Neglect Changes Kids' Brains And Affects Health Through Adulthood

• Don't forget the teddy bear. A "transitional object," as psychologists call it, is a substitute for contact with the parent for young children making the transition to sleeping on their own.
• Don't use sleep (or going to bed) as punishment. That is, avoid the edict "Go to bed without your supper." Any association of sleep and bad feeling causes the child to resist falling to sleep. Make sleep a positive priority, reminding your child, "Sleep makes you grow big and strong. If you get more sleep tonight, you will have more fun tomorrow. You need sleep to be smart and to have a well-connected brain."