Jiang Fan
Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Pediatric Translational Medicine Institute, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China,
Ann Nutr Metab. 2019;75 Suppl 1:44-54. doi: 10.1159/000508055. Epub 2020 Jun 19.
The early years of life are characterized by dramatic developmental changes. Within this important time period lies the transition from newborn to childhood. Sleep is one of the primary activities of the brain during early development and plays an important role in healthy cognitive and psychosocial development in early life. This paper will first review the normal sleep characteristics and their development in neonates and children, including architecture of sleep, development of a healthy sleep rhythm in early childhood, sleep recommendations and cultural disparity, as well as important factors for establishing a healthy sleep pattern during the first years of life, such as regular and consistent bedtime routine, safe and comfortable sleep environment, and appropriate sleep onset associations. This paper then provides recent updates of evidence of the effects of sleep on early brain development, particularly on learning and memory, emotional regulation, and general cognitive development through behavioral and neurophysiological studies. As regards the mechanism, many experimental sleep deprivation studies in animals and adults have attempted to explain the underlying mechanisms of sleep on cognition and the emotional brain. Future studies are expected to delineate the effects of sleep on brain structural and functional networks in the developing brain with the marked development of image acquisition approaches and the novel analysis tools for infants and young children in recent years.
生命的早期阶段具有显著的发育变化特征。在这个重要的时间段内，存在着从新生儿到儿童的过渡。睡眠是早期发育过程中大脑的主要活动之一，对生命早期的健康认知和心理社会发展起着重要作用。本文将首先回顾新生儿和儿童的正常睡眠特征及其发展，包括睡眠结构、幼儿健康睡眠节律的发展、睡眠建议和文化差异，以及在生命最初几年建立健康睡眠模式的重要因素，如规律一致的睡前常规、安全舒适的睡眠环境和适当的入睡关联。本文接着通过行为和神经生理学研究，提供了睡眠对早期大脑发育影响的最新证据，特别是对学习和记忆、情绪调节以及一般认知发展的影响。关于机制，许多针对动物和成人的实验性睡眠剥夺研究试图解释睡眠对认知和情感大脑的潜在机制。随着近年来图像采集方法以及针对婴幼儿的新型分析工具的显著发展，未来的研究有望阐明睡眠对发育中大脑的脑结构和功能网络的影响。
