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Why Sleeping Early is Important to Children

What is especially important for a child is to go to bed early. It is fatal to fall asleep late than you think, during the growing season. Not only does the secretion of growth hormone decrease, but it can also change the shape of the brain.


(Picture from Unsplash)


Growth hormones, which are secreted vigorously during sleep, restore body tissues and cells and create new ones. It comes out the most between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., three hours after falling asleep, and must fall asleep before 10 a.m. to be secreted properly. If growing children sleep late, their bones and immunity become relatively weak.


Not only are growth hormones secreted when sleeping, but the brain changes the white matter structure in the brain to process information and process it effectively in the future. White matter is a nerve fiber that connects gray matter and serves as a channel for transmitting the information. It affects cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development. If you don't sleep, the process of forming white matter is also hindered, and the shape of your brain grows differently from those of children who sleep well, which can eventually lead to behavioral problems. A team of researchers at the Melbourne Neuropsychiatric Center in Australia proved it with brain scan images. The research team followed up on sleep habits, brain development, and behavioral changes in about 200 teenagers for seven years. As a result, the group who slept late in early adolescence around the age of 12-13 had smaller brain white matter than the group who slept early, and was more likely to have problems with behavior such as violence, rule violations, and increased anti-social behavior.


It also affects emotions. Children who sleep late also have a greater risk of depression. A research team led by Professor Koo Dae-rim of the Department of Neurology at Boramae Hospital in Seoul conducted a sleep time and depression scale test on 8,565 high school students to confirm the correlation between adolescent sleeping patterns and depression. As a result, the late sleeping group had a 1.7 times higher risk of developing depression than the early sleeping group. Among the teenagers who sleep late, teenagers who answered that they make up for more than two hours of sleep even on weekends were less at risk of developing depression than those who did not.


To get a good night's sleep, refrain from eating food two to three hours before going to bed and do not use a computer or TV at least an hour before going to bed. The place where you sleep should create a dark and quiet environment as much as possible. If you snore, you should suspect childhood sleep apnea. Repeated sleep apnea can cause side effects such as sleeping late even if you sleep early because you cannot sleep well.


Writer: Grace Jun


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