Lifespan changes in sleep.

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Lifespan changes in sleep.
2
Prenatal Infant sleep.

• Okai et al (1992)
• Used ultrasound scanning to investigate possible
  sleep patterns in unborn children of the 30
  normal pregnant women between 20 and 40 weeks
  (beginning of 5mths-full term).

What are some of the possible reasons that a more
direct approach is not being used? OTHER
CONSIDERATIONS Sample size? Methodology? Applicati
on?
3
Prenatal Infant sleep.

• This study was completed by
• Measuring eye movement and baby movement.
• What instrument would they need to use?
• Findings
• Prior to 28 weeks (7 mths) REM was hard to
  identify.
• At 32 weeks REM/NREM cycles could
• be distinguished.

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What do these findings suggest?

• The critical point in gestation is measured at 32
  weeks.
• This is further supported by a correlation found
  between sleep changes and the development of the
  brain.
• E.g. Brain stem reaches a developmental high
  between 28 and 31 weeks, there is a known link
  between these neural systems control of the
  REM/NREM ultradian cycles.

5
Further evidence..

• Q What do we know about newborns?
• A Spend approx 17 hrs a day asleep with 50 of
  this time in REM.
• The adult NREM/REM pattern does not emerge for
  several months.

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Prenatal/Infant sleep cont.

• Q. What is the usual pattern that babies sleep
  follows????
• A. The amount of time needed in REM sleep
  decreases in the first year, with a decline to
  approx 13 hours (Sheldon,1996).

Are these conclusions sound? What other studies
support/refute these findings?
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Other factors that may impact infant sleep
patterns?

• Maternal behaviour (depression)
• Armitage (2009) found of the 18 healthy full term
  infants they studied at 6 monthly intervals.
• 11 of the babies were born to depressed mothers.
• They found infants of depressed mothers took
  longer to fall asleep had sleep patterns that
  were different to those experienced by the babies
  from non depressed mothers.

Also consider Baird et al (2009) As supporting
evidence.
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Other factors that may impact sleep patterns?

• Adolescents The cause is usually the cause of
  social changes such as
• Sleeping longer at weekends.
• Staying up later.
• Reduced parental influence.
• Several environmental factors are also
  responsible for changes in sleep..

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Other factors that may impact sleep patterns?
Wolfson Carskadon (1998) Pagel (2007)

• Increased h/w
• Using the computer
• During adolescence the brain is going through a
  critical phase of cortical development
  cognitive change, sleep is crucial in ensuring
  that these changes occur efficiently.