Pregnant Women Who Struggle Sleeping May Have Children With Neurodevelopmental Delays
Study finds boys may be slower to develop their social and speech skills.

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Short sleep duration (SSD) is defined as sleeping less than seven hours per night. Pregnant women may have trouble sleeping due to hormonal changes, pregnancy discomfort, frequent urination and other factors.
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Subscribe for FREE- Insufficient sleep during pregnancy may be associated with an increased risk of neurodevelopmental issues in children, affecting their cognitive abilities, behavioral development and learning capabilities.
- Boys appear to be at a higher risk of neurodevelopmental delays when their mothers experience SSD during pregnancy, suggesting that gender plays a crucial role in offspring response to prenatal environmental factors.
- SSD during pregnancy might affect the mother's glucose metabolism, thereby influencing the fetal development environment.
- There may be a positive correlation between C-peptide levels in umbilical cord blood and neurodevelopmental delays in offspring, indicating that a mother's glucose metabolism during pregnancy may impact the insulin secretion of the fetus and, consequently, their neurodevelopment.
Zhang L, Wang H xia, Li W xiang, et al. Association of maternal short sleep duration with neurodevelopmental delay in offspring: a prospective cohort study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2024. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgae569
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