Preschoolers who get too little sleep may be more likely to have trouble paying attention, controlling their emotions and processing information later in childhood, a new study suggests.
By age 7, these sleepless kids had markedly decreased mental and emotional functioning, said study lead researcher Dr. Elsie Taveras.
The children exhibited "poorer ability to pay attention, poorer emotional control, poorer executive function in general, and more behavioral problems," said Taveras, chief of general pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston.
"If you think about it, these are the basic functions of a child's life. It really has implications on their ability to perform at school and home, and in relationships with their peers," Taveras added.
The researchers drew these conclusions from data gathered as part of Project Viva, a long-term investigation involving a group of children recruited for the study before birth. Most are now about 13, Taveras said.
[For more of this story, written by Dennis Thompson, go to https://consumer.healthday.com...es-later-720660.html]
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