Ok so they studied 500 children and found this out but there are always exceptions to the rules. I know when my kids were young they went to bed quickly and slept pretty good whether they were active or not. The active ones usually took longer to nod off than the less active one did. As they have become teens nothing really has changed. The less active still nod off and head to bed sooner than the active ones. I believe the active one is going to work nights when he gets out of school because he hates to go to bed.
Lack of sleep increases a child's risk for emotional disorders later
Children who experience inadequate or disrupted sleep are more likely to develop depression and anxiety disorders later in life according to recent research. The study seeks to determine the precise ways inadequate sleep in childhood produces elevated risk for emotional disorders in later years. Ref. Source 9n.
How can I help my child to fall asleep and stay asleep?
Overall, studies indicate that 15 to 20 percent of one to three year olds continue to have nightwakings. According to an expert, "Inappropriate sleep associations are the primary cause of frequent nightwakings. Sleep associations are those conditions that are habitually present at the time of sleep onset and in the presence of which the infant or child has learned to fall asleep. These same conditions are then required in order for the infant or child to fall back to sleep following periodic normal nighttime arousals." Ref. Source 3q.
My parents tell me that they used to load me up in the car to get me to sleep. They wouldn't even make it a block and I'd be out. Now I struggle to drive long distances, because it makes me so sleepy. I have to have lots of caffeine and sugar to stay awake and get up to stretch every hour. It makes a 6 hour trip into an 8 hour trip. But for whatever reason, if I ride in a car, I am usually not as sleepy, as I have learned to stay awake and navigate or plan the trip for the driver. I also grew up on 15 acres, so there were almost no 'city' noises where I lived. When we went to bed, it was only the constant natural noises all night. Now, if a car door slams or a siren goes by, I am wake up. I have to sleep with a white-noise machine to help drown out all those city noises so I can sleep. It is amazing how sleep associations can carry over into adult life as well. Thankfully I don't have any major problems, but I do go to sleep and wake up very easily at night.
Untreated sleep apnea in children can harm brain cells tied to cognition and mood
A study comparing children 7 to 11 years old with moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnea to children the same age who slept normally found significant reductions of gray matter -- brain cells crucial to most cognitive tasks -- in several regions of the brains of children with sleep apnea. The finding points to connections between this common sleep disturbance and the loss of neurons or delayed neuronal growth in the developing brain. Ref. Source 6o.
During the night or day when one has sleep apnea your mind is losing oxygen due to the person has stopped breathing. Thus with less oxygen to feed the body and the brain I can see this causing lack of grey matter development in a child who suffers from sleep apnea. I hope they can find a way to help cure sleep apnea in children.
Children's sleep quality linked to mothers' insomnia. Children sleep more poorly if their mothers suffer from insomnia symptoms - potentially affecting their mental wellbeing and development - according to new research. Nearly 200 school kids and their parents were studied, results indicating that children whose mothers have insomnia symptoms fall asleep later, get less sleep and spend less time in deep sleep. There appeared to be no link between fathers’ insomnia symptoms and children’s sleep. Source 3s.