Sleeping mostly at night shown to help infants cognitive abilities

A study recently published in the journal Child Development revealed that infants who sleep mostly during the night performed better in tests of cognitive abilities than those who did not.

The study followed 60 children between ages 1 and 2 and found that those who slept at night showed improved memory, impulse control and mental flexibility. Furthermore, researchers revealed that infant sleep is linked with cognitive functions that depend on brain structures that develop in the first few years. However, they reported that little is known about why some children obtain these skills than others while others do not.

Researchers found that even when accounting for the number of times infants woke up during the night and the total time sleeping, infants still showed better cognitive skills than those who did not get the majority of their sleep at night.

Officials say these findings show that sleep is associated with the development in cognitive functions that involve the prefrontal cortex.

Enrolling children into boarding schools can help them better hone skills that involve executive functions such as planning, decision-making and error correction.