What We've Learned About Kids And Sleep In 2015

Kids’ sleep is truly precious. For parents, hardly anything beats the sight of their little one wrapped in a blanket, curls strewn over the pillow, breathing softly and looking happy and serene. But what if your child is tossing and turning, snoring or moaning in her sleep? How will the quality of her nighttime rest affect how she fares socially, emotionally and academically? These were some of the questions that leading medical professionals discussed at SLEEP 2015, which took place in Seattle in June. Underscoring the importance of children’s sleep, the conference added to a wave of newly released research that suggests answers to many of the questions weighing on parents at bedtime. Sleep is when the brain flushes out, which is especially critical for kids Image: Vinnie Neuberg / Narratively The latest discoveries in neuroscience show that there’s much more to sleep than just recovery. For example, scientists have long known that sleeping was critically important to the development of brain functions, such as learning new information and storing long-term memories. But in a recent animal study, a team of scientists at the University of Rochester found that during sleep the brain cleanses itself, essentially flushing out its own waste. It does this through a network of specific channels similar to a plumbing system, which fully “open up” in a state of sleep. Researchers think that this cleanup process is energy-expensive, and that’s why the brain may be ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news