Sleep quantity, quality and optimism in children.

We tested the relationship of objectively measured sleep quantity and quality with positive characteristics of the child. Sleep duration, sleep latency and sleep efficiency were measured by an actigraph for an average of seven (range = 3-14) consecutive nights in 291 8-year-old children (standard deviation = 0.3 years). Children's optimism, self-esteem and social competence were rated by parents and/or teachers. Sleep duration showed a non-linear, reverse J-shaped relationship with optimism (P = 0.02), such that children with sleep duration in the middle of the distribution scored higher in optimism compared with children who slept relatively little. Shorter sleep latency was related to higher optimism (P = 0.01). The associations remained when adjusting for child's age, sex, body mass index, and parental level of education and optimism. In conclusion, sufficient sleep quantity and good sleep quality are related to children's positive characteristics. Our findings may inform why sleep quantity and quality and positive characteristics are associated with wellbeing in children.

Prenatal origins of poor sleep in children.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: We examined whether small body size at birth and prenatal tobacco or alcohol exposure predict poor sleep and more sleep disturbances in children. DESIGN: An epidemiologic cohort study of 289 eight-year-old children born at term. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Sleep duration and efficiency were measured by actigraphy for 7 consecutive nights (mean = 7.1, SD = 1.2). We used both continuous measures of poor sleep and binary variables of short sleep and low sleep efficiency ( < or = 10th percentiles). Parents completed the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children. Lower birth weight and shorter length at birth were associated with lower sleep efficiency. For every 1-SD decrease in weight and length at birth, the odds for low sleep efficiency increased by 1.7 fold (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1 to 2.7) and 2.2 fold (95% CI: 1.3 to 3.7), respectively. For every 1-SD decrease in ponderal index at birth, the risk of parent-reported sleep disorders increased by 1.4 fold (95% CI: 1.0 to 2.0). Moreover, children exposed prenatally to alcohol had a 2.9-fold (95% CI: 1.1 to 7.6) and 3.6-fold (95% CI: 1.3 to 10.0) increased risk for having short sleep and low sleep efficiency, respectively. The associations were not confounded by sex, gestational length, prenatal and perinatal complications, body mass index at 8 years, asthma, allergies, or parental socioeconomic status. CONCLUSIONS: Poor sleep in children may have prenatal origins. Possible mechanisms include alcohol consumption during pregnancy and other conditions associated with small body size at birth.

Subjective face recognition difficulties, aberrant sensibility, sleeping disturbances and aberrant eating habits in families with Asperger syndrome.

BACKGROUND: The present study was undertaken in order to determine whether a set of clinical features, which are not included in the DSM-IV or ICD-10 for Asperger Syndrome (AS), are associated with AS in particular or whether they are merely a familial trait that is not related to the diagnosis. METHODS: Ten large families, a total of 138 persons, of whom 58 individuals fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for AS and another 56 did not to fulfill these criteria, were studied using a structured interview focusing on the possible presence of face recognition difficulties, aberrant sensibility and eating habits and sleeping disturbances. RESULTS: The prevalence for face recognition difficulties was 46.6% in individuals with AS compared with 10.7% in the control group. The corresponding figures for subjectively reported presence of aberrant sensibilities were 91.4% and 46.6%, for sleeping disturbances 48.3% and 23.2% and for aberrant eating habits 60.3% and 14.3%, respectively. CONCLUSION: An aberrant processing of sensory information appears to be a common feature in AS. The impact of these and other clinical features that are not incorporated in the ICD-10 and DSM-IV on our understanding of AS may hitherto have been underestimated. These associated clinical traits may well be reflected by the behavioural characteristics of these individuals.