Sleep Deprivation During Pregnancy

This sleep deprivation study titled Maternal sleep deprivation at different stages of pregnancy impairs the emotional and cognitive functions, and suppresses hippocampal long-term potentiation in the offspring rats was conducted by six researchers known as Peng, Y., Wang, W., Tan, T., He, W., Dong, Z., Wang, Y., & Han H. They proceeded with this study by obtaining male and female Sprague–Dawley rats from Chongqing Medical University Animal Care Centre. Next, they took these rats to the laboratory colony of Children’s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University where they allowed the rats to mate. The offspring’s produced were the ones who were included in this study. There is evidence that sleep deprivation during pregnancy has effects on the mother as well as the newborn, however, there is limited evidence about whether sleep deprivation at different stages of pregnancy has an equivalent effect on the emotional and cognitive functions of the newborns. The theory presented in this study is whether sleep deprivation at different stages of pregnancy affects emotional and cognitive functions of the offspring and suppresses the hippocampal long-term potential.
These six researchers collected their data by separating the group of pregnant rats into four different groups. These groups included a control group which was normal …show more content…
The six researchers began with a hypothesis, studied multiple conditions in which could cause their hypothesis to be supported or rejected. Their conclusion on the effects are reasonable, since development is the pattern of continuity and change that occurs throughout a lifetime. The rats were exposed to abnormal conditions in which they weren’t conditioned too, causing their development to change. Also, early experience has a greater impact on development, therefore the researchers using rats that were newly born was essential to the experimental process to compare the