Pediatric Sleep Health: From Pathophysiology to Quality of Life
A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Pediatric Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 23 June 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: neuropsychology; sleep; cognition; neurology; mental health; developmental neuroscience
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The period from infancy through adolescence is a crucial window of neurodevelopment. During this time, sleep is a vital, active process where the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and supports essential physical growth, including hormonal release and cellular repair. Therefore, ensuring optimal sleep quantity and quality is an absolutely crucial public health concern. Disruptions in pediatric sleep—from underlying pathophysiology like sleep-disordered breathing or restless legs syndrome to poor sleep habits—can have a profound and long-lasting effect on neurodevelopment that ripples across a child's entire life.
Chronic poor sleep is strongly linked to significant impairments in cognitive function, negatively affecting key areas such as attention, executive functioning, and overall academic performance. Furthermore, it substantially compromises a child's quality of life, contributing to mood dysregulation, increased irritability, higher risk for both physical and mental health issues, and challenges in social and emotional development. This Special Issue, Pediatric Sleep Health: From Pathophysiology to Quality of Life, aims to bring together the latest interdisciplinary research to improve our mechanistic understanding of these critical associations.
By comprehensively exploring the spectrum of pediatric sleep health, we hope to highlight and inform early detection and intervention strategies. This includes new insights into the neurobiological mechanisms underlying sleep disorders and novel clinical approaches that secure better short- and long-term developmental outcomes for children and their families worldwide.
We invite the submission of high-quality original research articles, comprehensive review articles, and systematic reviews that address all aspects of pediatric sleep health. Submissions may cover foundational science, clinical pathophysiology, epidemiology, public health, and intervention trials. Research focusing on sleep issues associated with any neurological and/or neurodevelopmental disorder (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, sickle cell disease) is also welcome.
Dr. Melanie Koelbel
Prof. Dr. Fenella Jane Kirkham
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- pediatric sleep
- sleep disorders
- child development
- cognition
- quality of life
- neurodevelopment
- pathophysiology
- sleep health interventions
- academic
- sleep-disordered breathing
- MRI
- neuroscience
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