Short sleep duration is associated with poor performance on IQ measures in healthy school-age children

Gruber, Reut; Laviolette, Rachelle; Deluca, Paolo; Monson, Eva; Cornish, Kim; Carrier, Julie

doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2009.09.007

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Volume 11, Issue 3 , Pages 289-294, March 2010

Short sleep duration is associated with poor performance on IQ measures in healthy school-age children

Reut Gruber
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute and McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Attention, Behavior and Sleep Lab, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Quebec, Canada
- Corresponding author. Address: Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, 6875 LaSalle Blvd, Verdun (Quebec), Canada H4H 1R3. Tel.: +1 (514) 761 6131 ext. 2110; fax: +1 (514) 762 3858.
Rachelle Laviolette
- Attention, Behavior and Sleep Lab, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Quebec, Canada
Paolo Deluca
- Attention, Behavior and Sleep Lab, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Quebec, Canada
Eva Monson
- Attention, Behavior and Sleep Lab, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Quebec, Canada
Kim Cornish
- McGill Child Laboratory for Research & Education in Developmental Disorders, McGill University, Quebec, Canada
Julie Carrier
- Centre du Sommeil et des Rythmes Biologiques, Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Received 26 June 2009; received in revised form 31 August 2009; accepted 3 September 2009.

Abstract

Objective

To examine the associations between habitual sleep duration and intellectual functioning in healthy, well-rested, school-age children.

Methods

The study group consisted of 39 healthy children, aged 7–11years old. Nightly actigraphic sleep recordings were taken for four consecutive nights to determine habitual week-night sleep duration in the home environment. Objective measures of cognitive functioning and sleepiness were used to measure daytime functioning.

Results

Longer habitual sleep duration in healthy school-age participants was associated with better performance on measures of perceptual reasoning and overall IQ, as measured by the WISC-IV, and on reported measures of competence and academic performance. No association between sleep duration and the studied behavioral measures was found.

Conclusions

These findings support the hypothesis that sleep duration is differentially related to some components of cognitive functioning, even in the absence of evidence for sleep deprivation or attention deficits.

Keywords: School-Age Children, Sleep Duration, IQ