Research
Early Childhood Sleep Study
Why study sleep in young children?
The preschool years are full of remarkable changes - children develop complex skills in their play behavior, expression and regulation of emotions, thinking, language, and motor activity. The brain is also changing as young children mature. Little is known about the “biology” of sleep and rhythms in early childhood and its influence on children’s overall development. The primary goal of this study is to better understand these biological processes across early development and to find out how sleep and daily rhythms are linked to the way young children express and regulate their emotions.
Who should get involved?
We are interested in healthy children with no sleep problems who were born between July of 2007 and May of 2009. Children must take daytime naps and a parent must be available for at-home assessments.
How can my child qualify for the study?
In a brief telephone interview, we ask you questions about your child’s sleep and developmental/health history, family schedules, and parental health history. We also ask you to complete questionnaires that help us determine if your child fits into the study. If your child is eligible, we will visit you in your home for an orientation session.
What will my child and I do in the study?
This study lasts about 4 weeks and begins with an orientation session that gives you information about study procedures. These include:
- Training visits. We make brief visits to your home during the first week of the study to slowly introduce the procedures used to measure sleep, biological rhythms, and emotion.
- Sleep Schedules. Your child is given a strict bedtime and rise time schedule, which includes daytime naps and nighttime sleep periods. Following this sleep schedule is a very important part of the study.
- Modified Sleep Schedule. On five different days, your child follows a modified sleep-wake schedule that varies the amount of time s/he is awake before being able to sleep. This modified sleep schedule results in your child missing a daytime nap, taking a late daytime nap, and staying up past his/her regular bedtime.
- Activity Monitoring. Your child wears a small watch-like wrist monitor for the duration of the study. This monitor records movement and lets us keep track of your child’s sleep patterns throughout the study.
- Sleep Diary. You are asked to complete a brief sleep diary and telephone the lab each day to report your child’s bedtimes and rise times.
- Sleep Studies. We perform 3 daytime and 2 nighttime sleep studies on your child. During these studies, small sensors are placed on the scalp, face, shoulder, and side to measure brain, eye, muscle, and heart activity. This allows us to assess sleep in the most sophisticated way possible.
- Biological Rhythms Assessment. On one evening (approximately 2-9 pm), your child gives saliva samples by “mouthing” a dry cotton roll for about 1-minute. Saliva samples allow us to measure levels of melatonin, a hormone related to the body’s biological “clock.”
- Emotion Assessments. Your child participates in activities that measure his/her ability to control and express emotions. We do these activities on two afternoons: one on a day that your child has taken a daytime nap and another on a day the nap is missed. These assessments allow us to understand the relationship between sleep and emotion in children.
- Compensation. Because this study requires time and effort, your child receives a $200 savings bond and you receive $120 cash at the end of the study. Your child is also frequently rewarded with small “gifts.”
Thinking your child will never do these things?
Think again! Our research team is experienced in working with young children and making study activities fun, rewarding, and interactive. We use games, books, and other play activities to introduce your child to the study procedures and to develop rapport with your child.
Want more information?
Call 401-863-6466 or email sleep@brown.edu.