The Impact of Sleep Dysregulation on Autism

As many as 80% of autistic children experience sleep disruptions. Insufficient subjective sleep quality is associated with characteristics of autism, including repetitive behaviors, social and communication difficulties. However, the few objective sleep polysomnography (PSG) studies have not found significant effects. This likely reflects the small number of studies that utilized PSG as an objective sleep measure, small sample sizes, or assessment in a laboratory setting rather than in the child's home environment. 

Our own investigation of a larger sample using sleep PSG in autistic participants, in their home, found an increased slow-wave sleep (SWS) ratio in autistic children and adolescents and a lower rapid eye movement (REM) sleep ratio compared to typically developing (TD) counterparts. To address the critical question of whether dysregulated sleep is central to the development and characteristics of autism, we will test for differences in sleep fragmentation (actigraphy), sleep architecture (PSG) and daytime, awake, resting state electroencephalogram (EEG). We will examine if any observed sleep dysregulation is associated with the core symptoms, repetitive behaviors, and cognitive function of autistic individuals, or with dysregulated daytime, resting state EEG in autistic children and adolescents compared to TD counterparts.  

In collaboration with Project 2, we will examine if target engagement-induced normalization of sleep positively impacts autistic traits.  In collaboration with Project 3, we will examine if the hypothesized impairments in  sleep fragmentation, sleep architecture and daytime awake, resting state EEG in autistic individuals will be recapitulated in our animal experiments of sleep in genetic models of autism and if normalization of sleep fragmentation, sleep architecture and daytime awake, resting EEG in our animal models of autism will be associated with improved social communication and cognition, and reduced repetitive behaviors in these animal models. If we demonstrate that sleep fragmentation is responsible for the development of some autistic traits and sleep normalization alleviates them, we will have demonstrated the potential causality of autism and importance of sleep in autistic individuals.

How Well Does Your Child Sleep? Help researchers better understand how sleep affects children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
We are seeking typically developing volunteers and volunteers with ASD to participate in a new research study at Stanford University.

If you would like to reach out to our team directly with any questions, please contact our team via email at ACESleepStudy@stanford.edu or call (650) 498-7215.