New Blood Test can Pick Up Sleep Deprivation on Horizon

Parents often find it tricky to tell if children and teens are getting enough sleep, so a new blood test could help. The simple blood test could provide a reliable metric to know if kids are sleeping enough.

Are your children sleep enough? A new blood test has been developed, which tells parents whether their kids are getting enough sleep is on the horizon. The findings of the study are published in the journal Experimental Physiology.//

The test is also a marker for general health as sleep affects susceptibility to many diseases.

Sleep Disorders: A Prelude
Sleep disorders include difficulty falling/staying asleep, falling asleep at inappropriate times, excessive sleep or abnormal behaviors associated with sleep.

‘Tiny pieces of RNA- molecules that translate DNA code into useful proteins are altered in the blood of sleep-deprived people. ’

It is commonly recognized that sleep is essential for children's health and that insufficient sleep duration is associated with negative health outcomes, such as heart disease and diabetes. In humans, sleep duration and quality are influenced by genetic, environmental and social factors.

Researchers at the Institute of Food Sciences of the National Research Council in Italy studied children and adolescents of normal weight (based on body mass index) from eight European countries (Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Germany, Belgium, Estonia, Hungary, and Sweden) who were either "short sleepers" or "normal sleepers," according to self-reporting.

"Short sleepers" included children sleeping less than 9 hours per day, and adolescents sleeping less than 8 hours per day. "Normal sleepers" included children sleeping at least 9 hours per day, and adolescents sleeping at least 8 hours per day.

Sleep Eating Disorders Causes Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment
Sleep-related eating disorders are abnormal eating behaviors that occur during night. Sleep related eating disorder is a part of parasomnias.

They looked at microRNAs in their blood, which are molecules that influence which of our genes are switched on, and found that certain microRNAs had significantly different levels depending on whether the children were short or normal sleepers. The researchers took the country of origin, age, sex, pubertal status, average daily screen time, and highest educational level of parents into account, showing that none of these factors was affected the microRNA levels.

These results could provide the basis for a test that could serve not only to assess sleep hygiene but to determine susceptibility to a range of health conditions. Rather than relying on self-reporting, as we don't often remember how much we slept farther back than a few days, this blood test could provide a more reliable metric.

Sleep Paralysis - Types, Causes, Symptoms, Risk Factors, Diagnosis, Treatment & Prevention
Sleep paralysis is a temporary inability to move or speak or react. This occurs when the patient is trying to wake up or fall asleep.

Fabio Laura, one of the authors of the study said:

"Our findings show for the first time that the sleep duration reflects the profile of specific circulating microRNAs in school-aged children and adolescents. This could allow clinicians to easily determine if children are sleeping enough by using a simple blood test and use this as an indication of other aspects of their health."

Sleep Talking, Sleep Terrors, Nightmares, sleep, Parasomnias, NREM, deep sleep
Sleep Talking, Sleep Terrors and Nightmares are sleep disorders, that commonly occur in children

Source-Eurekalert