Why do children sleep longer than adults?
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Scientists find out what happens to children during sleep
Children sleep much longer than adults - this is a well-known fact. Young parents may think that their newborn baby sleeps all day. In fact, in the first year of life, children sleep 18 hours a day,with passages of 4 hours. Scientists have long known that during sleep babies continue to develop. But development is a complex process. Researchers from different parts of the world are trying to figure out exactly what happens in different parts of children's bodies as they grow up. Recently, American scientists conducted a large-scale study, during which they found out at what age children stop sleeping long. They also learned the difference between children's and adults' dreams. Many parents wake their offspring to kindergarten and school, which is perfectly normal. But newborns can not wake newborns ahead of time, because in their brain there are important processes. That's what we're going to talk about in this article.
What is sleep for?
The results of the study conducted by American scientists were published in scientific . As part of the scientific work, the researchers studied data on sleep in 400 children between the ages of 0 and 15. They were interested in how many hours a day they slept and how sleep affects the mass and other properties of their brain.
With age, children's sleep becomes shorter
Researchers still can't agree on why humans and animals need sleep. At the moment, there are two assumptions:
- the first version says that sleep is needed by a person to process the information received in the brain for the day. During the night rest in the brain are created and strengthened neural connections, the number of which directly depend on the mental abilities of the person.
- the second version is that during sleep a person restores the condition of his nerve tissues. All cells, including even brain cells, exchange different substances and in the process harmful substances are released. Falling asleep, a person gives his body to cleanse from them.
Sleeping children and adults
As it turned out, both versions are correct. But the functions of sleep strongly depend on the age of the person. The results of the study showed that by about 2.4 years of age, children's sleep is 50% fast sleep. In this phase, neural connections are formed in the brain. That is, the child develops his mental abilities. The more neural connections he creates, the more he knows. Therefore, scientists strongly advise parents not to wake their children ahead of time. They wake up when they see fit.
After the age of two, children's sleep begins to become more and more "adult" traits. The duration of the fast phase of sleep begins to decrease. This increases the period of stay in the phase of slow sleep. In this phase, the human body restores the energy reserves spent throughout the day. And the brain no longer processes data, but fixes it.
There is a big difference between sleeping children and adults
During adulthood, the duration of a person's sleep begins to decrease. If infants can sleep 18 hours a day, teenagers already sleep 8 hours a day. Adults can get enough sleep in 6 hours. Unfortunately, statistics show that since adolescence people stop sleeping the recommended amount of time. Young people have too many temptations like computer games and meetings with friends, and adults can not sleep because of a lot of work. No matter how difficult it is, everyone is recommended to restore sleep mode, because lack of sleep is fraught with occurrence.
Recently I have already written that full sleep is as important a component of a healthy lifestyle as proper nutrition and exercise. Keeping the right sleep regimen, you can help your body lose weight. You can read about how it works. Enjoy your reading and don't forget about a healthy dream!
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