1

Running Head: COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN CHILDREN AND SLEEP LOSS

Cognitive Function in Children and Sleep Loss

Dalton Greco

November 17 2016

PSYC 3p68

Professor Kimberly Cote, PhD

TA: Kari Lustig

Brock University

5678156
 2
COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN CHILDREN AND SLEEP LOSS

Cognitive Function in Children and Sleep Loss

The human body can be looked at as a machine that performs many crucial and vital tasks

constantly throughout a twenty-four-hour cycle. The twenty-four-hour system is known as the

circadian rhythmic cycle which is a recurring biological process that helps us stay on track with

our sleep schedules based on factors such as the time of day and temperature noticed via EEG

patterns. (Isono, M et al. 2002) How sleep affects the body can be sectioned off into numerous

specific categories such as blood pressure, heart rate and can even regulate the release of certain

hormones such as the growth hormone. (Pattoneri, P. et al 2005) However, the purpose of this

paper is to specifically examine the impact that sleep and sleep loss has on the factors of

cognitive function in children. Cognitive function is the process of how the brain works to

acquire all the information that is presented to it. The aspects of cognitive function that will be

focused on will be the relationship sleep has with the key parts of cognitive function being

memory, attention and language. The second half of the paper will be a campaign with several

ideas geared towards addressing the public so that they can be aware of how important it is for

the developing mind of a child to get his or her proper sleep at night. The point of the campaign

is to hopefully grab the attention of parents and teachers who are the ones either in charge of the

amount of sleep the child gets and the ones determine how heavy a child’s workload is in a day

to day basis. If the campaign is effective in delivering the message, the amount of sleep for

children should go up to the proper suggested hours of sleep, and the workloads should be

distributed with better understanding of cognitive function in children.

Memory

Having normal regulated sleep is an important aspect of keeping a healthy functioning

memory. Children that have medical issues that closely relate to interruptions in sleeping patterns
 3
COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN CHILDREN AND SLEEP LOSS

as well as irritations throughout the night suffer in the category of memory compared to children

without any medical issues. One of the major issues that cause a constant sleep disruption being

obstructive sleep apnea in children. It is described as children having their sleep fragmented and

constantly interrupted with repeated arousals throughout the night. There is also additional stress

do to inhibited ability on the respiration process. (Gozal D, 2001) Lau E et al. 2015 carried out

research on the effects that obstructive sleep apnea would have on a wide range of subjects

including the working memory. They found that in terms of memory children diagnosed with

OSA had a noticeably shorter Forward digit span as well as a longer reaction time. The reaction

time between the regular group and the children with OSA was almost a full 1.5 seconds slower

for the OSA diagnosed children. (Lau E et al. 2015)

Relating this research to the everyday life that children experience could mean difficulty

recalling information during tests do to a lack of sleep, as well as an increase of young driver car

accidents caused by the longer and slower reaction time. According to a study by Hutchens L, et

al. 2008 that dealt with driving accident in youth it was found that for the participants that did

not have the proper 8 hours of sleep compared to those that did were roughly “one -third more

likely to have been in a car accident while at the wheel.” (Hutchens L, et al. 2008) Lau E et al.

express that along with the studies on how sleep loss effected so many cognitive functions

questions came as to if respiration would have a direct correlation to memory or other

aspects.(Lau E, et al. 2015). The debate of how effective naps are and what they do to the sleep

process is a crucial topic when discussing the minds of children. Urbain C et al. 2016 performed

a study looking at how sleep can activate the reorganization in memory. They found that it is

incredibly useful for children to nap after a day of learning because it helps organize all the

recently learned information. (Urbain C, et al. 2016) It is important to note that the sleep helped
 4
COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN CHILDREN AND SLEEP LOSS

the consolidation of verbal memories, leading to believe that more studies on the effects had on

the different types of memories could be carried out.

Attention

The ability to develop a strong and well functioning attention span is a very useful tool

children should have for their future years. It comes into play whether you are socializing, going

to school or performing a job. All the actions you perform throughout your life time require

some extent of attention. Being able to study and focus on school work is closely related to

attention. However, not all children can develop their attention skills as naturally as the majority

can. Some children grow up diagnosed with ADHD which causes them immense trouble when

dealing with tasks that require attention and can lead to many issues regarding sleep. ADHD

does not seem to be that common, only to be found in 3.5-7.1 % of children. (Canals J, et al.

2016)

Although, it is noted that on average roughly 50% of those diagnosed with ADHD say

that they have immense trouble sleeping. (Becker SP, et al. 2015) The reasoning behind the

relationship between sleep and ADHD being so dangerous is because symptoms of ADHD can

be brought about by means that relate similarly to other mental disorders. As well, an article by

Tsai M et al. 2016 states that “more than 50% of those with ADHD also have other disorders

such as Tourette syndrome, bipolar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, and OCD.” (Tsai M

et al. 2016, Mitchison GM et al. 2015, Lee MJ et al. 2016, Spruyt K et al. 2011). Having these

potential additional medical issues makes it difficult for the average parent to seek out the proper

help for their child. One treatment that works for perhaps ADHD may irritate a child suffering

from bipolar disorder for example. It is because of this issue that researchers have come together

but only come up with a handful of limited options. They seem relatively obvious but
 5
COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN CHILDREN AND SLEEP LOSS

considering how fragile a child’s mind is with ADHD as well as a pre existing mental disorder

no precaution can go unneeded. One of the first suggestions is that the current medicine used

today should be looked at to see if potential changes could be made so that they are less irritable

to the other mental disorders allowing for a more comfortable sleep. The other option is to

inform the public and those diagnosed with these disorders about how to properly achieve sleep

so that they can essentially teach themselves to sleep during their own meditation. (Cortese, S et

al. 2013) While attempting to research how scientists have decided to help children with

attention disorders sleep using the proper medication it became clear that there is not an exact

answer. Several studies suggested that reducing the amount of “x” drug should help the patient

sleep or that increases the amount of “x” drug in the medication will help. The most effective

way to increase the likelihood of a good nights sleep would just to keep the families and the

children themselves informed on any natural solutions to calming the heartrate and suppressing

the senses when they wanted to achieve sleep. This way any medical irritations are avoided with

the large amount of children who have other mental disorders.

Language

Language is the part of cognitive function that is the most commonly wide spread system

of communication. The general ability to hold information in the brain and express it back at

another point in time is also covered by the language section. This entails everything from the

understanding of general words to the ability to read. The ability for children to also learn new

words is covered by this section of cognitive function. Language also covers various types of

memory procedures as well as where information can potentially be stored in the brain. The parts

of the brain that suffer from lack of sleep are the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate and

posterior parietal systems. The hippocampus is also affected which is crucial because all of these
 6
COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN CHILDREN AND SLEEP LOSS

parts of the brain play key roles in taking in new information and understanding it. (Goel et al.,

2009) Studies have found that in adults and children sleep deprivation shows a decrease in the

ability to preform successfully on a word list task. Sadeh et al. 2003 performed an experiment in

which children had their sleep restricted for less than an hour, for three nights in a row. The

research team found that there was in fact a relationship between a lack of sleep and a decreased

ability in language memory tasks such a repeating back a sequence of numbers or words in

reverse order. (Sadeh et al., 2003) This could have a serious implication in the real world

considering how early school start times are averaging at around 8 am in North American

elementary schools. Such early start times would lead one to assume that children have to get up

at around 6 or 7 in the morning leaving little room to be cognitively active for the first classes of

the day. To relate back to the discussion about naps mentioned earlier, a study by Williams and

Horst 2014 concluded that children had a better time remembering words read in a story book

after they had a nap compared to if they did not. (Williams and Horst, 2014) Researchers have

found that infants and children tend to perform better on tasks revolving around language than

that of adults. A child’s cognitive ability is usually measured after a nap to represent the stages of

sleep.

An interesting experiment carried out by Gomez et al. 2006 found out that children

excelled at the recognition of “linguistic rule abstraction following sleep”. This means that

children could recognize syllables that belonged together at the begging and ending of a word

even though the middle of the word had large variations. The researcher also noted that the

children that napped within 4 hours of the task had a much better success rate compared to those

who napped after the 4 hours. (Gomez et al. 2006) This suggests that it is not whether a nap is
 7
COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN CHILDREN AND SLEEP LOSS

taken, but perhaps when the nap is taken relative to the task that is crucial to the cognitive

function development.

Awareness Campaign

For the development of a campaign designed to bring the public up to speed on the

current information of how important proper sleep is in children the targeted audience can not

just be one lone group of people. Considering that the topic at hand is the importance of sleep for

children the awareness campaign should also be targeted towards the parents and the teachers of

the children as well as the children themselves. The reasoning for this triple target audience is

because each of the three groups involved has a heavy impact on the child’s life, as well the child

needs to be able to view the benefits that they get from sleeping as fun and entertaining for

themselves. Since the kids are in elementary school the campaign will kick off with a new

“holiday” type week for school across the board. We will have children with their parents

showing up to the school, no books, no pencils just their sleeping bags and pillows. Activities

will be set up around the school with a sleep theme in mind to make the message seem cute and

fun to the younger children. There will be activities such as “The sliding sock race!” having

children running a little race in the gym in their pajamas and socks, “The house coat tug of war”

which would involve several house coats tied together for the older children to enjoy a nice game

of tug of war. There would be a pillow fight tournament for each grade and at the end of every

night you are offered the chance to have a big sleep over at the school provided with extra

blankets, food and tooth brushes with toothpaste.

After all the children are tired from the fun interactive activities throughout the day and

evening it will be nap time for the children only. Once all the children are asleep the parents and

teachers would have all been assigned a classroom in the school that they must attend. In the
 8
COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN CHILDREN AND SLEEP LOSS

classrooms, we have our scientists and our researchers that are on board to increase awareness

about the importance sleep has on a child’s mental ability and cognitive function. The classroom

setting each night of the full week event is where our team informs the parents and teachers

about how people are fighting for later start times in high schools across the board. We explain to

the parents and teachers about the biology behind sleep and how their kids and students need it

drastically. Informing them about how the release of melatonin essentially has a delay on its

starting and stopping cycle in the body, and how the early school times don’t allow for the

process to start properly in the morning. (Owens J.A et al., 2014) The parents must be informed

that their children require roughly 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep every night to preform at a proper

level of efficiency the next morning. It was reported also that children are only getting 6.5 hours

of sleep per night. (Owens J.A et al., 2014) The primary goal of classroom setting portion of the

campaign is to have the parents and teachers speak up as one to the school board in order to push

back the school start time an hour or two. Another aspect the parents and teachers will be

educated on is the fact that lack of sleep can lead to things such as obesity and emotional issues

like depression. (Smaldone A, et al 2007, Chen X, et al. 2011)

After the children wake up from their naps and the classroom setting portion has ended

for the evening, parents will be reunited with their children once more and there will specific

areas that will allow for all those who are participating to enjoy a nice dinner. Once the dinner is

over and all the socializing is completed parents, teachers and children will all go to the gym,

class room, and hallways where ever they set up their sleeping bags. Each area will have a movie

set up that will end several minutes before the scheduled sleep time. The sleep time and wake up

time in the morning have been arranged so that children, parents and teachers can experience the

proper sleep time required for cognitive function. Near the ending days of the “sleep week” the
 9
COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN CHILDREN AND SLEEP LOSS

children, parents and teachers will partake in creating arts and crafts, letters and messages meant

for the school board. With the combined efforts of all of those involved hopefully the school

board will understand that school starting times should not be made to appease the faculty and be

looked at to make the most money. Quite the opposite, the school starting times should be looked

at with the children in mind. They are the ones attending the classes and being tested on various

subjects on a day to day basis the least the school board can do is make it the smallest bit easier

for them.

Ultimately, lack of sleep is an issue that affects all aspects of the body whether it be

mentally, physically or biologically. This paper only covered a small portion of the critically

important issues revolving around the topic of sleep. Making sure that young children begin the

habits of a proper sleep schedule of around 8.5 hours a night is crucial to their development.

Informing the children is not enough in this case, they need the help of the parents and teachers if

a change is ever going to be made to the school system that wont change its ways. The

importance of healthily developed cognitive function is a key factor for growing children.

Memory, attention, and language are all aspects that humans as a society need to thrive in life.

Adults dealing with children that suffer from ADHD and other disorders such as bipolar disorder

need to understand that just shoving pills down your child’s throat is not always the answer and

in some cases, can make the situation worse. Sometimes the fix to the issue is as easy as just

informing the individual about the consequences that they are brining on themselves to start the

healing process. The issue of children lacking sleep is one of the most important topics when it

comes to the development of a healthy adult, and if people don’t catch the attention of the school

board in big ways then it will never change.

 10
COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN CHILDREN AND SLEEP LOSS

References

Becker SP, Pfiffner LJ, Stein MA, Burns GL, McBurnett K. Sleep habits in children with

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder predominantly inattentive type and associations

with comorbid psychopathology symptoms. Sleep Med. 2015;11:S1389–9457.

Canals J, Morales-Hidalgo P, Jané MC, Domènech E. ADHD

prevalence in Spanish preschoolers: comorbidity, sociodemographic factors, and

functional consequences. J AttenDisord. 2016

Chen, X., Beydoun, M. A., & Wang, Y. (2008). Is sleep duration associated with childhood

obesity? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 16(2),

265-274.

Cortese S, Brown TE, Corkum P, Gruber R, O’Brien LM, Stein M, et al. Assessment and

management of sleep problems in youths with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. J

Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2013;52:784-96.

Goel, N., Rao, H., Dumer, J. S., and Dinges, D. F. (2009). Neurocognitive

consequences of sleep deprivation. Semin. Neurol. 29, 320–339

Gómez, R. L., Bootzin, R. R., and Nadel, L. (2006). Naps promote abstraction

in language-learning infants. Psychol. Sci. 17, 670–674

Gozal D. Morbidity of obstructive sleep apnea in children : facts and theory. Sleep Breath 2001 ;

5:35-42.
 11
COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN CHILDREN AND SLEEP LOSS

Hutchens, L., Senserrick, T. M., Jamieson, P. E., Romer, D., & Winston, F. K. (2008). Teen

driver crash risk and associations with smoking and drowsy driving. Accident Analysis &

Prevention, 40(3), 869-876.

Isono, M., Wakabayashi, Y., Fujiki M, M., Kamida, T., & Kobayashi, H. (2002). Sleep cycle in

patients in a state of permanent unconsciousness. Brain Injury, 16(8), 705-712.

Lau E, Choi E, Li A, et al. Original Article: Working memory impairment and its associated

sleep-related respiratory parameters in children with obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep

Medicine [serial online]. September 1, 2015;16:1109-1115. Available from:

ScienceDirect, Ipswich, MA. Accessed November 16, 2016.

Lee MJ, Yang KC, Shyu YC, Yuan SS, Yang CJ, Lee SY, et al. Attention-deficit hyperactivity

disorder, its treatment with medication and the probability of developing a depressive

disorder: a nationwide population-based study in Taiwan. J Affect Disord. 2016;189:110–

7.

Mitchison GM, Njardvik U. Prevalence and gender differences of ODD, anxiety, and depression

in a sample of children with ADHD. J Atten Disord. 2015.

Owens, J. A., Au, R., Carskadon, M., Millman, R., & Wolfson, A. (2014). School Start Times for

Adolescents. Pediatrics, 134(3), 642-649.

Pattoneri, P., Tirabassi, G., Pela, G., Astorri, E., Mazzucchi, A., & Borghetti, A. (2005).
 12
COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN CHILDREN AND SLEEP LOSS

Circadian blood pressure and heart rate changes in patients in a persistent vegetative state

after traumatic brain Injury. Journal Of Clinical Hypertension (Greenwich, Conn), 7(12),

734-739.

Sadeh, A., Gruber, R., & Raviv, A. (2003). The effects of sleep restriction and extension on

school-age children: what a difference an hour makes. Child Development, (2), 444.

Smaldone, A., Honig, J. C., & Byrne, M. W. (2007). Sleepless in America: inadequate sleep and

relationships to health and well-being of our nation's children. Pediatrics, 119 Suppl

1S29-S37.

Spruyt K, Gozal D. Sleep disturbances in children with attentiondeficit/hyperactivity

disorder. Expert Rev Neurother. 2011;11: 565–77

Tsai, M., Hsu, J., & Huang, Y. (2016). Sleep Problems in Children with Attention

Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Current Status of Knowledge and Appropriate

Management. Current Psychiatry Reports, (8), 1

Urbain, C., De Tiège, X., Op De Beeck, M., Bourguignon, M., Wens, V., Verheulpen, D., & ...

Peigneux, P. (2016). Sleep in children triggers rapid reorganization of memory-related

brain processes. Neuroimage, 134213-222.

Williams, S. E., & Horst, J. S. (2014). Goodnight book: sleep consolidation improves word

learning via storybooks. Frontiers In Psychology, 5184.