Making sure your child gets enough sleep is one of the best steps you can take to promote child development. Kids need about 10 hours of sleep each night for their physical, mental, and emotional health. As schedules get busy for parents and kids, that can be a tall order, but here’s why sleep should be a top priority.

How Sleep Promotes Healthy Child Development

1. Mood Management

It’s even tough for adults to manage their moods when sleep deprived, but the link between sleep and mood isn’t just about being grumpy. The University of Houston found that anxiety, depression, and emotional disorders in adulthood are correlated with lack of sleep in children. Even two consecutive nights of inadequate sleep creates negative emotions and makes kids enjoy good experiences less.

2. Cognitive Development

Your child’s brain needs sleep as much as their body does. During sleep, their brain is still hard at work, forging connections between brain hemispheres that are linked to learning and creativity. Sleep also encourages the brain’s neuroplasticity, or its ability to adapt to environmental changes. Other cognitive functions associated with sleep include memory and language.

3. Strong Immunity

Not sleeping can actually make you sick. People who don’t get enough sleep get sick faster and stay sick longer. Their body’s ability to fight infection decreases because the production of antibodies that fight infection decline during periods of sleep deprivation.

4. Physical Development

A child’s body releases growth hormones during sleep. In a study by the University of Wisconsin, researchers found that 90% of bone grown in young lambs took place during sleep or rest—and scientists believe this is true for humans as well. In addition, a study published in the journal SLEEP showed that growth spurts in infants occur during sleep.

Great Beginnings in St. Charles, MO, and Cottleville, MO, offers early childhood education for infants to school-age children. Their staff is warm and caring and the curriculum is designed to create a fun, supporting learning environment that nurtures healthy child development. To tour the St. Charles location, call (636) 724-5048, or (636) 447-4212 for Cottleville. You can also request a tour or more information online.