PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Nighttime sleep found beneficial to infants' skills

2010-11-16
(Press-News.org) At ages 1 and 1-1/2, children who get most of their sleep at night (as opposed to during the day) do better in a variety of skill areas than children who don't sleep as much at night.

That's the finding of a new longitudinal study conducted by researchers at the University of Montreal and the University of Minnesota. The research appears in the November/December 2010 issue of the journal Child Development.

The study, of 60 Canadian children at ages 1, 1-1/2, and 2, looked at the effects of infants' sleep on executive functioning. Among children, executive functioning includes the ability to control impulses, remember things, and show mental flexibility. Executive functioning develops rapidly between ages 1 and 6, but little is known about why certain children are better than others at acquiring these skills.

"We found that infants' sleep is associated with cognitive functions that depend on brain structures that develop rapidly in the first two years of life," explains Annie Bernier, professor of psychology at the University of Montreal, who led the study. "This may imply that good nighttime sleep in infancy sets in motion a cascade of neural effects that has implications for later executive skills."

When the infants were 1 year old and 1-1/2 years old, their mothers filled out three-day sleep diaries that included hour-by-hour patterns, daytime naps, and nighttime wakings. When the children were 1-1/2 and 2, the researchers measured how the children did on the skills involved with executive functioning.

Children who got most of their sleep during the night did better on the tasks, especially those involving impulse control. The link between sleep and the skills remained, even after the researchers took into consideration such factors as parents' education and income and the children's general cognitive skills. The number of times infants woke at night and the total time spent sleeping were not found to relate to the infants' executive functioning skills.

"These findings add to previous research with school-age children, which has shown that sleep plays a role in the development of higher-order cognitive functions that involve the brain's prefrontal cortex," according to Bernier.

###

Summarized from Child Development, Vol. 81, Issue 6, Relations Between Physiological and Cognitive Regulatory Systems: Infant Sleep Regulation and Subsequent Executive Functioning by Bernier, A (University of Montreal), Carlson, SM (University of Minnesota), Bordeleau, S, and Carrier, J (University of Montreal). Copyright 2010 The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. All rights reserved.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Social costs of achievement vary by race/ethnicity, school features

2010-11-16
Doing well in school and feeling accepted by your peers are both important challenges during adolescence. Sometimes these don't fit well together, as when teens are ostracized for being smart. A new study has found that such pressures differ for teens in different racial/ethnic groups, and that characteristics of the teens' schools also play a role. The study, conducted by researchers at Cornell University, appears in the November/December 2010 issue of the journal Child Development. "This is the first study to clearly show that for adolescents, there are measurable ...

Young children sensitive to others' behaviors and intentions

2010-11-16
Young children's helpfulness is tempered when they see that the person they intend to help has harmed another person. But it also diminishes when they see that the object of their attention meant to harm another, even if no harm was done. That's the conclusion of two new studies of 3-year-olds conducted by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. The research appears in the November/December 2010 issue of the journal Child Development. "In finding that children are quite sophisticated and discriminating helpers, our ...

Making the passage of time invisible (and the illusion of a Star Trek transporter)

2010-11-16
While a range of ingenious man-made materials bring us ever closer to realising the possibility of cloaking objects from visible light, research from Imperial College London is now taking invisibility into the fourth dimension - time - creating the groundbreaking potential to hide whole events. The laws of physics might make the creation of a transporter which can dematerialise objects and then rematerialise them elsewhere a little beyond us, but it is now being suggested that an object could move from one region of space to another, completely unseen by anyone watching. ...

Highlighting gender promotes stereotyped views in preschoolers

2010-11-16
Preschool teachers can inadvertently pass on lessons in stereotypes to their students when they highlight gender differences, according to Penn State psychologists. A study has found that when teachers call attention to gender, children are more likely to express stereotyped views of what activities are appropriate for boys and girls and which gender they prefer to play with, said Lynn Liben, Distinguished Professor of psychology, human development and family studies, and education, Penn State. By highlighting the powerful effect of classroom environments on preschool ...

New low-cost method to deliver vaccine shows promise

New low-cost method to deliver vaccine shows promise
2010-11-16
BOSTON (November 16, 2010) — Researchers have developed a promising new approach to vaccination for rotavirus, a common cause of severe diarrheal disease that is responsible for approximately 500,000 deaths among children in the developing world every year. In a study published in the November issue of Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, a vaccine delivered as nasal drops effectively induced an immune response in mice and protected them from rotavirus infection. The new vaccine delivery system has also been tested successfully and found to be heat stable with tetanus and is ...

Solar Money Saver: Being Green and Taking the Family Finances Further Into the Black

2010-11-16
ZEN Home Energy Systems is helping homeowners unlock the equity in their home to finance their entire energy needs and pay off the mortgage sooner. "We've known for some time now it is cheaper to produce your own energy at home than buy, but one of the biggest barriers facing householders is finding the cash to finance installation of a whole home solar energy system," ZEN Home Energy Systems Chief Executive Officer Richard Turner said. "You no-longer have to go into the red to be green at home. "Householders can now use equity in their home to install a ...

An Ensemble of Best Wines Around the Globe at the Brand New Wine Company in UK- Great Wines Direct

2010-11-16
A prodigious troupe of excellent wines from across the world awaits your wine savvy taste buds at the newest grand ( http://www.greatwinesdirect.co.uk/ ) wine company Great Wines Direct in the UK. They have a collection of red wine, white wine, champagne, rose wine, sparkling wine, dessert wine and ports and spirits that epitomise A-1 grape wine quality and flavour and are carefully handpicked from growers and estates across 18 countries worldwide. They have an exceptional staff of trained professionals who are great wine advisers and are at your service 24/7 with quick ...

Las Vegas Massage Therapy - Massage Nirvana Announces Partnership with Las Vegas Athletic Club

2010-11-16
Major ( http://www.massagenirvana.com/ ) Las Vegas Massage Therapy Company, Massage Nirvana Day and Medi Spa announces a new partnership with Las Vegas Athletic Club (LVAC) that will provide additional therapeutic benefits to its members. âEURœLVAC is one of the best equipped health clubs in Las Vegas. The new partnership will now give our customers more choice when it comes to taking care of their body and health,âEUR says Christopher Barnes owner of Massage Nirvana Day and Medi Spa. âEURœThis is an exciting opportunity for Massage Nirvana and we look forward to a ...

Chartgantt.com sells its 100th Excel Gantt Chart Template

2010-11-16
After realising there was a substantial customer need for simple and effective excel based gantt chart templates, Marcus Tarrant of Chartgantt.com developed an innovative and easy to us range of products that suit beginner to advanced project managers. The product range has grown to 4 different products, one catering for each level of project manager. Chartgantt Basic has been developed to provide simple, automated gantt chart planning with no learning curve. "We focused on taking the complexity out of project planning" says managing director, Marcus Tarrant Chartgantt ...

Fun and Affordable Activity for Parents and Kids in the Raleigh Area, Start Strafing

2010-11-16
Newly opened Strafe Gaming Lounge provides Parents, Kids and Play Groups with a safe and fun place to take young children during the week. Strafe opens their doors to kids 6 and under along with their parents for some good clean fun from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM every weekday. With age appropriate video games and educational electronic toys, Strafe gives parents and kids a fun and affordable outing in the Raleigh area for just $5.00. Strafe features the major gaming systems such as Wii, Xbox and Playstation 3 and also preschool specific gaming systems like the Leapfrog ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Long-term anticoagulation discontinuation after catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation

Fractional flow reserve–guided complete vs culprit-only revascularization in non–ST-elevation myocardial infarction and multivessel disease

Participation of women in cardiovascular trials from 2017 to 2023

Semaglutide and tirzepatide in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

Changes in biology of internal fat may be the leading cause of heart failure

Transcatheter or surgical treatment of patients with aortic stenosis at low to intermediate risk

Promising new drug for people with stubborn high blood pressure

One shot of RSV vaccine effective against hospitalization in older adults for two seasons

Bivalent RSV prefusion F protein–based vaccine for preventing cardiovascular hospitalizations in older adults

Clonal hematopoiesis and risk of new-onset myocarditis and pericarditis

Risk of myocarditis or pericarditis with high-dose vs standard-dose influenza vaccine

High-dose vs standard-dose influenza vaccine and cardiovascular outcomes in older adults

Prevalence, determinants, and time trends of cardiovascular health in the WHO African region

New study finds that, after a heart attack, women have worse prognosis when treated with beta-blockers

CNIC-led REBOOT clinical trial challenges 40-year-old standard of care for heart attack patients

Systolic blood pressure and microaxial flow pump–associated survival in infarct-related cardiogenic shock

Beta blockers, the standard treatment after a heart attack, may offer no benefit for heart attack patients and women can have worse outcomes

High Mountain Asia’s shrinking glaciers linked to monsoon changes

All DRII-ed up: How do plants recover after drought?

Research on stigma says to just ‘shake it off’

Scientists track lightning “pollution” in real time using NASA satellite

Millions of women rely on contraceptives, but new Rice study shows they may do more than just prevent pregnancy

Hot days make for icy weather, Philippine study finds

Roxana Mehran, MD, receives the most prestigious award given by the European Society of Cardiology

World's first clinical trial showing lubiprostone aids kidney function

Capturing language change through the genes

Public trust in elections increases with clear facts

Thawing permafrost raised carbon dioxide levels after the last ice age

New DNA test reveals plants’ hidden climate role

Retinitis pigmentosa mouse models reflect pathobiology of human RP59

[Press-News.org] Nighttime sleep found beneficial to infants' skills