Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.
Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.
Little is known about the links between the time that young children go to bed and their cognitive development. This research paper, sought to examine whether bedtimes in early childhood are related to cognitive test scores in 7-year-olds.
The findings on sleep patterns and brain power come from a UK study of more than 11,000 seven-year-olds.The findings are published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
