Long- and Short-Term Consequences of Pediatric Sleep Disorders: Jodi A. Mindell, PhD

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"When you’re assessing sleep, you want to think about how much sleep they’re getting, and if they’re having problems with sleep. Are they waking during the night? One of the key questions is how they are functioning during the day. When you ask somebody how much sleep they need, it’s based on how well they function."

Research has shown that sleep disorders are common in childhood and adolescence and are associated with neurocognitive and psychosocial impairments, as well as an increase in caregiver burden. There are several different types of sleep disorders that occur in children, including insomnia, delayed sleep phase syndrome, hypersomnia, parasomnias, movement disorders, and obstructive sleep apnea, among others. Additionally, pediatric sleep problems can present as a primary sleep disorder or as a secondary consequence of an underlying medical or psychiatric disorder, and can compromise social and academic functioning.

A titan in the field, Jodi A. Mindell, PhD, has written extensively on pediatric sleep disorders with more than 100 publications and 300 presentations at national and international conferences. She currently serves as the associate director of the Sleep Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and as the chair of the advisory board of the Pediatric Sleep Council that created the popular website www.babysleep.com, a free resource for parents and practitioners. In an interview with NeurologyLive^®, Mindell detailed both the short- and long-term effects that poor sleep and sleep disorders have on children and adolescents, from both neurological and quality of life standpoints.