研究表明，婴儿睡眠问题与青少年的心理健康问题有关

研究表明，婴儿睡眠问题与青少年的心理健康问题有关

Sleep problems in early childhood may be linked to the development of certain mental health disorders in adolescence, according to new research.

一项最新研究表明，儿童早期的睡眠问题可能与青春期某些心理健康障碍的发展有关。

A study of 7,155 children in the United Kingdom found that waking up frequently during the night and irregular sleep routines as babies and toddlers was linked to psychotic experiences in children ages 12 and 13. Also, children who slept for shorter periods at night were more likely to be associated with borderline personality disorder at ages 11 and 12.

一项对英国7155名儿童的研究发现，夜间频繁醒来以及婴儿和蹒跚学步时睡眠不规律与12岁和13岁儿童的精神病经历有关。此外，夜间睡眠时间较短的孩子在11岁和12岁时更容易出现边缘性人格障碍。

The research, which published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, was the first time possible links between early childhood sleep problems and adolescent psychotic experiences and borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms have been examined.

这项研究发表在周三的《美国医学会精神病学杂志》上，这是第一次对儿童早期睡眠问题与青少年精神病和边缘性人格障碍(BPD)症状之间可能存在的联系进行了研究。

"We know from previous research that persistent nightmares in children have been associated with both psychosis and borderline personality disorder," said lead author Isabel Morales-Munoz, a research fellow at the Institute of Mental Health at the University of Birmingham.

“我们从以前的研究中知道，儿童持续的噩梦与精神病和边缘性人格障碍有关，”伯明翰大学心理健康研究所的研究员、主要作者伊莎贝尔·莫拉莱斯·穆诺兹说。

"But nightmares do not tell the whole story. We've found that, in fact, a number of behavioral sleep problems in childhood can point towards these problems in adolescence," she said.

但是噩梦并不能说明一切。我们发现，事实上，儿童时期的一些睡眠行为问题可以指向青少年时期的这些问题。”她说。

Adolescence, typically defined as the ages between 10 and 19, is a key period in human development because of brain and hormonal changes, and it's now thought to be when many mental health problems start.

青春期，通常被定义为10到19岁，由于大脑和荷尔蒙的变化，是人类发展的关键时期，现在人们认为这是许多心理健康问题的开始。

Prior research in Australia found that babies with persistent severe sleep problems in their first year were at greater risk for anxiety and emotional issues in later childhood.

此前在澳大利亚的研究发现，在第一年有持续严重睡眠问题的婴儿在童年后期出现焦虑和情绪问题的风险更大。

Sleep problems in children and adolescents have been shown to predict the development of various emotional and behavioral problems, including depression, anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, risk-taking and aggression.

儿童和青少年的睡眠问题已经被证明可以预测各种情绪和行为问题的发展，包括抑郁、焦虑、注意力缺陷多动障碍、冒险和攻击性。

Sleep and mental health are closely connected in adults, with sleep problems increasing the risk for developing particular mental illnesses as well as resulting from mental health issues.

成年人的睡眠和心理健康密切相关，睡眠问题增加了罹患特定心理疾病的风险，也会导致心理健康问题。

Parents shouldn't worry

父母不应该担心

Dr. Jenny Radesky, an assistant professor of developmental behavioral pediatrics at Michigan Medicine, said that disturbed sleep in early childhood was a marker of many things, and there wasn't a clear mechanism by which it could be influencing the risk of these diagnoses, which may sound scary to parents.

密歇根医学院发育行为儿科学助理教授珍妮·雷德斯基博士说，儿童早期睡眠不佳是很多事情的一个标志，目前还没有明确的机制来影响这些诊断的风险，这听起来可能让父母感到害怕。

She also noted that the study didn't appear to have properly adjusted for parental mental illness, which, given the genetic underpinnings of mental illness, could explain both why a child had sleep differences in early childhood and why the child is exhibiting mental illness symptoms in adolescence.

她还指出，这项研究似乎没有对父母的精神疾病进行适当的调整，鉴于精神疾病的遗传基础，这可以解释为什么孩子在童年早期会有睡眠差异，以及为什么孩子在青春期会表现出精神疾病的症状。

Morales-Munoz agreed that parents struggling with their baby or child's sleep shouldn't be overly worried by these findings.

莫拉莱斯·穆诺兹认为，为孩子或孩子的睡眠而挣扎的父母不应该对这些发现过分担心。

"The advice that I would give to parents is that if they are worrying about their child having some sleep problems, they should consult a specialist," she said.

她说:“我给家长的建议是，如果他们担心孩子有睡眠问题，他们应该咨询专家。”

"In many cases, these parental worries are indeed part of a normative developmental stage (such as, for example, their child waking up a few times during the night, or having problems falling asleep) but still it would be beneficial to know that, and parents could feel more relaxed; but in other cases, these are indeed part of a developmental problem," she said via email.

“在许多情况下，父母的担忧确实是正常发育阶段的一部分(例如，他们的孩子在晚上醒来几次，或者入睡有问题)，但知道这一点还是有好处的，父母可以感到更放松;但在其他情况下，这些确实是发展问题的一部分，”她通过电子邮件说。