NCT03330093

Sleep and Emotion Processing in Childhood

Sleep and the Neural Basis of Emotion Processing in Childhood

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 23 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Colorado, Boulder · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 4 Years – 6 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This research project will examine whether experimental sleep extension in children alters the neural and behavioral mechanisms by which short sleep is a risk factor for emotional/behavioral problems. Children ages 5.0-5.9 years with chronic insufficient sleep (≤9 h/night for ≥6 months) will be randomized to either a sleep Extension or to an active Control group. Extension group parents will participate in a 1-month individualized behavioral sleep intervention to promote targeted sleep duration improvements before beginning a 2-week sleep Extension schedule (8 week protocol). Brain and behavioral assessments will occur at Baseline and post sleep Extension.

Detailed description

Research on processes influencing the development of affective brain circuits is critical to elucidating the neurobiological substrates of psychiatric disorders. Mechanistic evidence from adults showing a sleep-dependent functional "disconnect" between brain regions central to adaptive emotion processing (i.e., regulation and expression) suggests that sleep loss is a fundamental target. Similar data in young children, however, do not exist. Early childhood is a sensitive period in the maturation of sleep and emotion processing and also a time when disturbance in both domains is commonly first detected. Further, epidemiological findings reveal that insufficient sleep in childhood is prevalent, associated with concurrent emotional problems, and predicts later mood and attentional disorders. Although the investigator's recent experimental findings indicate that acute sleep loss results in non-adaptive emotion processing in young children, the neural systems underlying such sleep-dependent effects are not known. Also, the vast majority of basic research on sleep and affective substrates has utilized sleep deprivation or sleep restriction protocols. The investigators will instead employ sleep extension in chronically sleep-restricted children, a highly translatable approach with significant public health implications. This research project will examine whether experimental sleep extension in children alters the neural and behavioral mechanisms by which short sleep is a risk factor for emotional/behavioral problems. Children ages 5.0-5.9 years with chronic insufficient sleep (≤9 h/night for ≥6 months) will be randomized to either a sleep Extension or to an active Control group. Extension group parents will participate in a 1-month individualized behavioral sleep intervention to promote targeted sleep duration improvements before beginning a 2-week sleep Extension schedule (8 week protocol). Brain and behavioral assessments will occur at Baseline and post sleep Extension.

Conditions

• Sleep
• Emotions

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Sleep Health in Preschoolers	In-person, family-based behavioral intervention
BEHAVIORAL	Health and Safety Intervention	In-person, family-based behavioral intervention

Timeline

• Start date: 2016-08-01
• Primary completion: 2019-07-01
• Completion: 2019-07-01
• First posted: 2017-11-06
• Last updated: 2022-06-06