Relations between sleep patterns early in life and brain development: A review

Abstract

Sleep supports healthy cognitive functioning in adults. Over the past decade, research has emerged advancing our understanding of sleep's role in cognition during development. Infancy and early childhood are marked by unique changes in sleep physiology and sleep patterns as children transition from biphasic to monophasic sleep. Growing evidence suggests that, during development, there are parallel changes in sleep and the brain and that sleep may modulate brain structure and activity and vice versa. In this review, we survey studies of sleep and brain development across childhood. By summarizing these findings, we provide a unique understanding of the importance of healthy sleep for healthy brain and cognitive development. Moreover, we discuss gaps in our understanding, which will inform future research.

Keywords: Brain development; Early childhood; Learning; Napping; Sleep.