Children’s sleep quality is related to mothers’ insomnia symptoms

Children more often sleep poorly if their mothers suffer from insomnia symptoms. This report researchers from the University of Basel and the University of Warwick in the journal Sleep Medicine based on a study with nearly 200 school-aged children and their parents. Sleep plays an essential role for adults' and children's well-being. Short sleep and poor sleep quality may affect mental health, learning, memory, and school achievement in children. In Switzerland, around 28% of adult women and 20 % of men suffer from disturbed sleep. Researchers around Natalie Urfer-Maurer from the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Basel and Sakari Lemola from the University of Warwick studied the relationship between parents' insomnia symptoms and their children's sleep. Sleep was assessed in healthy 7-12-years old children during one night by in-home electroencephalography (EEG); around half of the children were born preterm.