Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Childhood sleep problems linked to psychosis in young adults – study

Psychosis is when people lose some contact with reality, and this might involve seeing or hearing things that other people cannot see or hear.

Nina Massey
Wednesday 08 May 2024 11:18 EDT
Researchers looked at data on how long children aged between six months and seven years old slept (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
Researchers looked at data on how long children aged between six months and seven years old slept (Dominic Lipinski/PA) (PA Archive)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Children who routinely sleep less than others from when they are babies may be at increased risk of developing psychosis in early adulthood, new research shows.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham looked at data on how long children aged between six months and seven years old slept.

They found that children who persistently slept fewer hours, compared with those who slept the most, were more than twice as likely to develop a psychotic disorder in early adulthood, and nearly four times as likely to have a psychotic episode.

Psychosis is when people lose some contact with reality, and this might involve seeing or hearing things that other people cannot see or hear (hallucinations) and believing things that are not actually true (delusions).

Sometimes sleep can become a persistent and chronic problem, and this is where we see links with psychiatric illness in adulthood

Dr Isabel Morales-Munoz

Lead author Dr Isabel Morales-Munoz said: “It’s entirely normal for children to suffer from sleep problems at different points in their childhood, but it’s also important to know when it might be time to seek help.

“Sometimes sleep can become a persistent and chronic problem, and this is where we see links with psychiatric illness in adulthood.

“The good news is that we know that it is possible to improve our sleep patterns and behaviours.

“While persistent lack of sleep may not be the only cause of psychosis in early adulthood, our research suggests that it is a contributing factor, and it is something that parents can address.”

This is the first study to show that persistent lack of sleep is a strong predictor of psychosis, the researchers say.

The results were based on data taken from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), which includes records of 12,394 children from six months to seven years, and 3,889 at 24 years old.

According to the researchers, although they found an association between lack of sleep in childhood and psychosis in early adulthood, they have not proven a causal link and other factors need to be explored.

For example, the scientists looked at overall immune system health in the children to see whether impairments in the immune system could also account for some of the associations between lack of sleep and psychosis.

The findings, published in Jama Psychiatry, suggested that a weakened immune system could partially explain the links between lack of sleep and psychosis, but other unknown factors are also likely to be important.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in