Sleep and Autism Center
Center for Sleep in Autism Spectrum Disorder
This project looks at how sleep problems affect children and teens with autism and whether improving sleep can help their behavior and thinking.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Stanford University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Stanford, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11176141 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
From a parent's view, researchers will record sleep using overnight sleep EEGs, daytime EEGs, and wearable activity trackers, and compare 150 children and teens with autism to 75 typical peers. They will run four linked projects that combine these human measurements with animal studies to learn how poor sleep might cause or worsen autism symptoms. Some parts will test whether bringing sleep back to normal relates to improvements in core behaviors and daytime function. The goal is to find sleep-related targets that could lead to better therapies for kids with autism.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Children and adolescents with autism aged about 4 to 17 years, especially those with noticeable sleep problems, would be the best fit.
Not a fit: Adults, people without sleep disturbances, or those outside the age range are unlikely to be eligible or directly benefit from this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to ways to improve sleep that reduce behavioral and cognitive problems in children with autism.
How similar studies have performed: Animal studies and smaller human sleep studies suggest sleep matters for brain development, but this integrated center approach is broader and still relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
Stanford, United States
- Stanford University — Stanford, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Hallmayer, Joachim F — Stanford University
- Study coordinator: Hallmayer, Joachim F
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.