Our recently published study found that shorter sleep and later bedtimes are associated with potentially harmful functional changes in parts of the brain important for coping with stress and controlling negative emotions. Children in low-income families are particularly at risk. We are neuroscientists passionate about reducing socioeconomic inequalities in child development.

To better understand how socioeconomic challenges impact children’s sleep health and brain development, we recruited 94 children ages 5 to 9 from socioeconomically diverse families living in New York City. Approximately 30% of participating families had incomes below the U.S. poverty line.

We asked parents to report on their children’s sleep environment, the consistency of their family routines, and their children’s bedtime and wake-up times. We also asked the children to have magnetic resonance imaging of their brains to analyze the size of an area of ​​their brain called the amygdala and the strength of its connections to other areas of the brain.

We found that children from families with low economic resources sleep less at night and go to bed later than children from families with higher economic resources.

In contrast, shorter sleep and later bedtime were associated with smaller amygdala size and weaker connections between the amygdala and other areas of the brain that process emotions. This association between socioeconomic disadvantage, sleep duration and timing, and amygdala size and connectivity was found even in 5-year-old children.

Our results suggest that sleep quantity and timing are important for the functioning of these brain regions involved in emotion processing.

Why is this important?

Inadequate sleep increases the risk of developing mental health problems and negatively impacts academic performance. Decreased sleep can make it harder for children to cope with stress and control their emotions. Children from families or neighborhoods with low socioeconomic resources may be at increased risk for stress-related mental health problems, in part because of adverse environmental influences on sleep health.

The brain develops rapidly during childhood, so childhood experiences can affect how the brain works throughout life. Problems from childhood can last a lifetime.

Our results confirm the importance of providing all families with sufficient financial resources to support their children. Research shows that income support for families in need can help support children’s brain function, as well as their mental health and academic performance.

What is still unknown

Why do adverse socioeconomic conditions prevent children from sleeping?

Our research shows that parents who are struggling have a harder time maintaining a consistent family routine, which likely leads to less consistent bedtime routines, which may contribute to children getting less sleep.

However, it is likely that there are several factors that link socioeconomic disadvantage with poor sleep quality, including inability to afford a comfortable bed, overcrowding, nearby noise, excessive lighting and heat.

What’s next?

Most sleep research has focused on young people, who are particularly prone to poor sleep, but our results suggest that environmental influences on sleep patterns and habits begin much earlier.

Interventions to improve sleep may need to begin earlier than adolescence to be optimally effective. Increasing economic resources for families in need may also be an important factor in supporting children’s healthy sleep, brain development, and emotional well-being.