1-066 - Sleep: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Clinical Recommendations and Measurement from Infancy to Adolescence

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Integrative Statement

Moderator: Emily Abel, M.S.

Insufficient sleep is an internationally recognized public health concern. However, because sleep follows distinct developmental patterns, it is often difficult to broadly define what qualifies as ‘sufficient’ vs. ‘insufficient’ sleep in a clinical context, and similarly to measure and categorize sleep in a research context. To aid clinicians and researchers on their quest to understand, measure, and promote optimal sleep, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (Paruthi et al., 2016) and the National Sleep Foundation (Hirshkowitz et al., 2015) each established consensus recommendations, which describe sleep duration needs at varying stages across child development.

Although these consensus recommendations are a great resource for physicians and parents, there are numerous considerations to make when determining how exactly to apply them. For example, are these recommendations applicable across all contexts and populations? Do these recommendations account for individual differences in sleep need? Is duration the best way to determine whether an individual is getting sufficient sleep? Panelists will debate how their own work—including the context in which they study sleep—aligns with consensus recommendations. They will further provide advice on how these recommendations can be best utilized within a developmental framework for studying sleep, and what aspects of sleep may be most important to measure at various stages of development. We expect this roundtable will facilitate conversations about how to optimize child sleep within both clinical and research settings, as well as encourage scholars across interdisciplinary and diverse backgrounds to measure developmentally consequential indices of sleep.

Sub Unit

• Health, Growth, Injury

Moderator

• Emily Abel, Purdue University

Panelists

• Mona El-Sheikh, Auburn University

• Liat Tikotzky, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

• Andrew J Fuligni, UCLA

• A. J. Schwichtenberg, Purdue University