Abstract

Research suggests that arousal during the transition to sleep—presleep arousal—is associated with sleep disturbances. Although a robust literature has examined the role of presleep arousal in conferring risk for sleep disturbances in adults, substantially less research has examined the developmental origins of presleep arousal in early childhood. The authors examined presleep arousal using parent report and psychophysiological measures in a sample of preschoolers to explore the association between different measures of presleep arousal, and to examine how nightly presleep arousal is associated with sleep. Participants included 29 children assessed at 54 months of age. Presleep arousal was measured using parent reports of child arousal each night at bedtime and using a wearable device that took minute-by-minute recordings of heart rate, peripheral skin temperature, and electrodermal activity each night during the child’s bedtime routine. This yielded a dataset with 4,550 min of ambulatory recordings across an average of 3.52 nights per child (SD = 1.84 nights per child; range = 1–8 nights). Sleep was estimated using actigraphy. Findings demonstrated an association between parent-reported and psychophysiological arousal, including heart rate, peripheral skin temperature, and skin conductance responses during the child’s bedtime routine. Both the parent report and psychophysiological measures of presleep arousal showed some associations with poorer sleep, with the most robust associations occurring between presleep arousal and sleep onset latency. Behavioral and biological measures of hyperarousal at bedtime are associated with poorer sleep in young children. Findings provide early evidence of the utility of wearable devices for assessing individual differences in presleep arousal in early childhood.

摘要

研究表明，向睡眠过渡期间的觉醒（睡前觉醒）与睡眠障碍有关。尽管大量文献研究了睡前觉醒在赋予成人睡眠障碍风险中的作用，但很少有研究检查儿童早期睡前觉醒的发育起源。作者在学龄前儿童样本中使用家长报告和心理生理学测量方法检查了睡前觉醒，以探索不同睡前觉醒测量之间的关联，并检查夜间睡前觉醒与睡眠的关系。参与者包括 29 名评估为 54 个月大的儿童。睡前觉醒是通过父母每晚在睡前报告的儿童觉醒情况以及使用可穿戴设备记录心率的每分钟记录来测量的，周围皮肤温度，以及每晚孩子睡前的皮肤电活动。这产生了一个数据集，其中包含 4,550 分钟的动态记录，每个孩子平均 3.52 个晚上（SD  = 每个孩子 1.84 晚；范围 = 1–8 晚）。使用活动记录仪估计睡眠。调查结果表明，父母报告的唤醒与心理生理唤醒之间存在关联，包括心率、外周皮肤温度和孩子就寝时间过程中的皮肤电导反应。家长报告和睡前觉醒的心理生理学测量均显示与较差的睡眠有一些关联，其中最强烈的关联发生在睡前觉醒和入睡潜伏期之间。睡前过度兴奋的行为和生物学指标与幼儿睡眠较差有关。研究结果提供了早期证据，证明可穿戴设备可用于评估儿童早期睡前觉醒的个体差异。