Childhood insomnia affects 30% of children between three months and five years, according to what Dr. Francisco Segarra, director of the Dr. Estivill Sleep Unit at the Hospital Universitari General de Catalunya (Barcelona) and sleep expert, told La Vanguardia. childish. Children sleeping poorly is a great concern for parents, since rest is essential for the health and well-being of the little ones in the house.
A restful sleep is not only essential for them having energy the next day to play, explore the world and learn, but it also influences their mood. In addition, sleep plays a fundamental role in their physical and cognitive development.
That is why it is important to maintain correct sleeping habits in children, such as always going to bed and getting up at the same time, controlling nap periods and adopting relaxing routines such as reading a story or taking a bath before going to bed. However, despite all this, there are times when children do not fall asleep and do not rest well. According to research, genetic causes are hidden behind this circumstance.
A study published this November in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry has studied whether some children are genetically predisposed to poor sleep. The research, led by Dr. Desana Kocevska, from the Netherlands Institute of Neurosciences in Amsterdam, analyzed the cases of 2,458 children of European ancestry, of which 51% were girls and 49% were boys.
Mothers reported on insomnia-related items from the Children's Behavior Checklist for children ages one to six, while the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children and actigraphy were assessed in a subsample at ages 10 to 15.
The researchers evaluated whether polygenic risk scores for insomnia (PRS-I) and sleep duration (PRS-SD) affect sleep from early childhood to adolescence. Thus, they corroborated that children with higher PRS-I had more sleep problems related to insomnia between the first year and a half of life and 15 years of age. Meanwhile, higher PRS-SD was associated with greater actigraphically estimated sleep duration and more wakefulness after sleep onset between ages 10 and 15, but these associations did not survive correction for multiple testing.
Based on these findings, the study concluded that children who are genetically predisposed to insomnia have more sleep problems similar to insomnia, while those who are genetically predisposed to sleeping more hours have a longer duration of sleep, but are also more awake during the night in adolescence. “This indicates that polygenic risk for sleep traits, based on genome-wide association studies in adults, affects sleep already in children,” the research highlights.
