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The Link Between Children’s Bedtime and Emotion Regulation

A resent study from Pennsylvania State University suggests that a consistent bedtime for children leads to better emotion regulation while under stress or working with others.

Children Sleep Study

Researchers analyzed sleep and behavior data of 143 six-year-olds, mothers of whom were trained about responsive parenting in the first 2.5 years following birth.

The children wore sleep-monitoring devices on their wrists for a week. The devices kept track of when the children went to sleep, the quality of their sleep, and how long they slept.

The behaviors and emotions of the children were then tested in person in a clinic where they participated in various tasks that were intended to evoke frustration.

One task involved each child selecting a toy that they wanted to play with from a large selection. The chosen toy was placed in a clear box and locked.  The child was then given a set of keys, none of which unlocked the box.

The team then observed the child for self-regulated behavior, including self-talk and trying each key, and a lack of self-regulation — which included throwing the keys without trying them all.

After four minutes, the children were handed the correct key to the box and allowed to play with the toy.

Another task involved in the study was collaborative, which tested the children for their ability to cooperate.

Sleep and Emotion Regulation

The results showed that the more a child’s bedtime changed each night, the worse they regulated their behavior and emotions.

Findings from the study suggest that the regularity of the children’s sleep schedules—whether they went to sleep and woke up at approximately the same time each day over the course of a week—exhibited a greater influence over their emotional control and behavior than the duration or quality of sleep.

Children with more consistent, regular sleep schedules showed greater control over their emotions and behaviors.

This research sheds light on the nuanced nature of developmental sleep research, especially regarding the relationship between consistent sleep and emotional regulation.

Though duration of sleep is important, regular and consistent sleeping and waking times may be more instrumental in supporting children’s emotional control.

Bedtime Routines

Research has also shown that regular bedtime routines are vital to getting adequate sleep, yet only about 65% of families in the US report engaging in a routine 5 or more times a week.

Certain activities might help children with sleep. These include:

  • Providing a healthy snack
  • Hygiene (bathing or brushing teeth)
  • Reading
  • Singing
  • Physical contact (massage or cuddling)

Studies also show kids who don’t get enough sleep may be more likely to develop high blood pressure, obesity, even depression.

Finally, think again before you reach for that smartphone or tablet to soothe your child before bedtime- research has also shown that doing so may also affect a child’s emotion regulation ability.

References

Dadzie, A., Master, L., Hohman, E. E., Acton, E. H., Tauriello, S., Paul, I. M., … & Buxton, O. M. (2022). Associations Between Sleep Health and Child Behavior at Age 6 Years in the INSIGHT Study. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 10-1097.

The post The Link Between Children’s Bedtime and Emotion Regulation first appeared on Humintell | Master the Art of Reading Body Language.

Lack of Facial Expressions May Reveal Severe Depression

Doctors may soon be able to diagnose a severe form of depression, known as melancholia, simply by looking at someone’s (lack of) facial expressions.

According to VeryWell Mind, melancholia is a form of major depressive disorder (MDD) that is characterized by a complete loss of pleasure in all or almost everything.

In addition, research has found that people with melancholic depression have a higher risk for unemployment, psychotic features, inpatient treatment, and suicide risk than people with non-melancholic depression

It is estimated by researchers that about 5-10% of people who are depressed have melancholia – which could represent as many as 2 million Americans.

Depression and Facial Expression Study

The study entitled “Markers of positive affect and brain state synchrony discriminate melancholic from non-melancholic depression using naturalistic stimuli” was published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Author Dr. Philip Mosley and colleagues showed 70 depressed people, 30 of whom had melancholia and 40 of whom did not, two different videos.

  • Video 1 was a clip from Ricky Gervais‘ stand up comedy set ‘Animals,’ which involved funny skits about nature documentaries.
  • Video 2 was a short film called The Butterfly Circus, which features a moving story about a circus troupe inspiring hope in Depression-era America.

While the patients watched the videos, their facial and brain activity was recorded, the former with a camera to track every minute muscle twitch during the Gervais set, the latter with the patient in an MRI machine while watching The Butterfly Circus.

Depression Study Results

The difference between the two patient sets was stark. For the Gervais video, although the patients with non-melancholic depression were still depressed, they did respond with facial expressions and giggles.

Meanwhile, the patients with melancholic depression were completely impassive. Mosley describes them like “statues” with “no facial movement at all, no smiling, no chuckling.”

Severe 'Melancholia' Depression Could Be Diagnosed by Facial Expression

Something similar happened in the MRI machine. The brains of patients with non-melancholic depression lit up, particularly in the cerebellum, which is involved with automatic emotional responses.

“With people with melancholic depression,” Mosley said, “those emotional regions of the brain – the ones involved in detecting and responding to stimuli with an emotional tone – were just doing their own thing, disconnected, not integrated with the rest of the brain, not involved in processing with other regions of the brain that are relevant in these tasks.”

Depression Study Implications

This study’s discovery could help doctors differentiate between melancholia and regular depression earlier. While melancholia is a more severe condition, it’s still treatable.

Dr. Mosley suggests these patients don’t tend to respond well to traditional talk therapy, so diagnosing them early could also help establish a more tailored treatment plan for them.

If a person with the condition is diagnosed early, most respond very well to medications, which work to balance the chemistry of the brain. And quicker treatment can help them avoid the most invasive therapies that may be required if the condition has progressed.

The post Lack of Facial Expressions May Reveal Severe Depression first appeared on Humintell | Master the Art of Reading Body Language.

How Doctors Can Communicate Beyond Words to Patients

Humintell Director David Matsumoto recently appeared on the VA C20 podcast as a subject matter expert on facial expressions of emotion and nonverbal behavior.

C20 is a live interactive webinar hosted by Dr. Chad Kessler, Executive Director of Emergency Medicine for Veterans Affairs (VA).

The podcast was originally launched in April 2020 to provide up-to-the-minute COVID-19 news and resources quickly and efficiently to clinical employees across VHA. Today, C20 covers a variety of public health and medical topics and is available to all at VA.

It is designed to be a quick discussion where guests concisely present engaging and informative content to an audience of busy VA providers, clinicians, VA employees and Veterans.

What makes a good interaction between a physician or clinician and their patient?

Dr. Kessler and Dr. Matsumoto started by discussing physician or clinician body language as it relates to patient perception of their care.

Dr. Matsumoto believes it starts with the patient’s perceptions of how much the caregiver is interested in them.

We’ve all heard the term “active listening” but what concretely does this mean?

Spending a minute to sit down and make eye contact and ask someone how they’re doing can make a huge difference in perceived interest.

Dr. Matsumoto emphasizes there is a lot of nonverbal behavior that is centered around the concept of active listening and the “active” part of that term does not involve listening. It’s the engagement of our bodies with the individual.

Examples of engagement can include:

  • Sitting (getting down to the patient’s level)
  • Looking someone in the eye (pay attention to me)
  • Asking simple questions (like “how are you doing”)

In fact, there is research that shows those kinds of perceptions are related to many different things in the healthcare system such as treatment regime adherence, decreases in lawsuits, better assessments, etc.

Dr. Matsumoto emphasizes that feeling seen or heard is essential to getting any interaction off to a good start.

One Mistake To Avoid When Building Rapport

What’s one mistake you can avoid to build rapport in interactions?

Dr. Matsumoto speaks about the concept of “mirroring” which he describes as a double edged sword.

Studies have shown that when people organically start to mirror themselves, they have better rapport in interactions.

However, if a person perceives that the other individual is simulating their postures, this may have the opposite effect.

Dr. Matsumoto suggests not to try and mirror the other person’s body language. Just be genuine in the interaction; listen normally, naturally, and empathetically.

When you do so, one’s body will start to engage appropriately to the interaction.

What does building trust actually mean in an interaction?

Building trust means allowing a person to be vulnerable and that person knowing they won’t be judged, criticized or attacked.

Building trust starts with non-judgmental listening.

An important reminder before engaging in an important conversation may including taking a breath or two to calm your body and mind.

Dealing with Cultural Differences in Medicine

Doctors see patients from all walks of life. How do cultural differences fit into the connection and interaction?

Cultural differences are big in nonverbal behavior but one thing that is consistent across all people of all cultures are facial expressions of emotion.

We’re all generally pretty good at reading facial expressions in others since we learn how to do so in our every day lives.

With regard to other things like orientation, body posture, orientation and especially gaze and visual attention, there are differences.

In fact, people of other cultures may perceive healthcare workers as higher status and may avoid direct eye contact because of this fact.

While the cultural differences do exist in some behavior, they can be mitigated a lot by interest and engagement behaviors.

These interest and engagement behaviors are all the same across cultures:

  • Paying attention
  • Direct eye contact
  • Speaking nicely and empathetically
  • Using our own body postures and orientation

These behaviors will go a long way in mitigating cultural differences.

To listen to the entire episode, visit this page!

The post How Doctors Can Communicate Beyond Words to Patients first appeared on Humintell | Master the Art of Reading Body Language.