Yoga and quality of sleep in school-children: a recent study published by the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

 


 Good quality sleep is necessary for physical and mental health. In the case of children and adolescents sleep is a crucial pillar of physiological, psychological and emotional development (1). Despite the need to prioritize sleep to support health and normal development, a study found that only 15.6 percent of middle school students meet the optimal nine hours of sleep recommended by the National Sleep Foundation. 46 percent of students sleep less than seven hours per night (2 and 3).

 Children in communities of low socioeconomic status experience even shorter sleep duration and poorer quality of sleep (4 and 5). As a result of this, they are more likely to have behavioral problems, poor academic performance, risky behaviors and obesity. Many factors play a role in the dysregulation of sleep in children of lower socioeconomic status such as social and family stress, food and housing insecurity, crowded and/or noisy environments.

 Early interventions that teach children to cope with chronic stress may be helpful to support their mental, emotional and physical health.

School based practices that incorporated yoga-informed principles like mindfulness, breathing and movement posture education have been used in more than 900 schools across the US (6). Yoga based education has improved children's cognitive functioning, behavior and well-being.

In children with neurodevelopmental disorders, research has shown that a yoga curriculum improved their sleep (7 and 8).

 A recent study published by the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, which was done in children in California, demonstrated the benefits of yoga on the quality and quantity of sleep when compared to children who did not receive this mindfulness-yoga program (9).

 The school-based health and mindfulness curriculum offered taught a set of specific skills that involved paced breathing, mindfulness and body movements, and the children experienced increased total and REM sleep duration over the two-year study period. On the other hand, children from a neighboring school district matched for sociodemographic variables, were not offered this curriculum, and they experienced decreased total sleep time with no changes in REM sleep.

To understand the impact of this study the concept of REM sleep needs to be explained. The REM sleep is a stage of sleep associated with vivid dreams and rapid eye movements. Every ninety minutes or so, throughout the night, the mind cycles between REM stages and Non-REM stages. The REM stages are necessary for mood regulation during the day, as well as to optimize concentration and memory functioning. REM stages are also important to consolidate information and for learning purposes. All in all, REM stages during the night are essential for a normal daily performance of activities.

One thousand one hundred seventy-five children in the third and fifth grade were recruited from two Northern California school districts to take part in a cohort study designed to evaluate the potential benefits of a yoga/mindfulness curriculum. The curriculum taught mindfulness, paced breathing and movement/posture education, and it was mandatory for children in this district (curriculum cohort). The other school district (non-curriculum cohort) did not offer this curriculum. Instead, children were involved in activities planned for their physical education hour. Data collection began in December 2014 and continued through January 2019.

Children participating in the study were sent home with a flyer offering them the chance to participate in additional data collection through objective sleep assessments that included polysomnography.

 The curriculum sessions were offered twice a week by trained instructors for two academic years during the scheduled physical education class. The sessions lasted 50 minutes and included active breathing exercises and movement/posture education whereas the children in the non-curriculum cohort received their standard physical education class. 115 children and their parents (58 for the curriculum cohort and 57 from the non-curriculum cohort) provided informed consent to participate in the polysomnographic assessments.

 The group of children who received the curriculum with the yoga/mindfulness plan had an increase in their total sleep duration and REM sleep. As mentioned previously, REM sleep plays a role in emotional health, learning and resilience. Within the first three months of applying the curriculum, the benefits were evident in a dose-dependent fashion. Children who were very motivated to practice the mindful/breathing exercises at home experienced a greater benefit on their sleep architecture. On the other hand, in participants of the non-curriculum cohort the total duration of sleep and REM sleep decreased (9).

 The mean sleep duration for the non-curriculum group was 6.5 hours per night whereas the curriculum group had a mean duration of sleep of 7.7 hours per night. Both groups belonged to low socioeconomic status communities and, as mentioned previously, these groups have a risk for lower duration of sleep and disrupted sleep architecture. (The National Sleep Foundation recommends at least nine hours per night in this age group).

 The Yoga/mindfulness curriculum provided the children with strategies to cope with stress and to improve the quality and quantity of sleep, which is essential for their growth, development and emotional health.

 

References:

1) https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need

2) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28364447/

3) https://www.sleepfoundation.org/children-and-sleep/sleep-and-school-performance

4) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6360097/

5) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4395518/

6) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4831047/

7) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5427410/

8) https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-activity/yoga-and-sleep

9) https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.9508



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