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Association between weekend catch-up sleep and executive functions in Chinese school-aged children

Yajie Lv1, Li Cai1, Xia Zeng1

  • 1Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.

Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine : JCSM : Official Publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
|April 14, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Weekend catch-up sleep does not fully restore executive functions lost from insufficient weekday sleep in children. Excessive weekend sleep may negatively impact children's executive functions.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Sleep Science
  • Child Neurodevelopment
  • Cognitive Psychology

Background:

  • Weekend catch-up sleep is a common practice among children.
  • The relationship between weekend sleep extension and children's executive functions is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between weekend catch-up sleep and executive functions in school-aged children.
  • To determine if weekend sleep can mitigate deficits caused by insufficient weekday sleep.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of data from 4,699 primary school children in Guangzhou, China.
  • Assessment of executive functions using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function Parent Form.
  • Statistical analysis using multiple linear regression to examine sleep duration and executive function scores.

Main Results:

  • Weekday sleep duration was negatively associated with executive function indices.
  • For children sleeping less than 9 hours on weekdays, weekend catch-up sleep showed no correlation with executive functions.
  • For children sleeping 9 or more hours on weekdays, over 1 hour of weekend catch-up sleep was linked to improved executive function scores.

Conclusions:

  • Weekend catch-up sleep is insufficient to fully recover executive function deficits from short weekday sleep.
  • Extended weekend catch-up sleep (over 1 hour) may adversely affect executive functions in school-aged children.
Abstract

Keywords:
briefchildrenexecutive functionssleep duration

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