Children in households with set bedtimes and children who get adequate sleep score higher on a range of developmental assessments.

Results indicate that a regular bedtime was the sleep habit which was the most consistent predictor of positive developmental outcomes at the age of 4. Children whose parents reported having rules about what time their child goes to bed had higher scores for receptive and expressive language, phonological awareness, literacy and early math abilities.

According to Dr. Jay Gordon, babies sleeping on a safe surface with sober, nonsmoking parents respond to their parents, and the parents respond to them. The chance of SIDS occurring in this situation are close to zero. Babies in a crib or in a room away from their parents, on the other hand, will breastfeed less and are at greater risk of infections, including life-threatening ones. The medical profession, as it often does, is approaching the entire idea of the family bed backward. A baby in the same bed with his or her parents is surrounded by the best possible surveillance and safety system. It must be the responsibility of the manufacturers and proponents of cribs and separated sleep to prove that such disruption is safe, not the other way around. Read the original article on Mercola.com

People who sleep less than seven hours a night are three times as likely to catch a cold.

A new study supports the theory that sleep is important to immune function. Volunteers who spent less time in bed were much more likely to catch a cold when viruses were dripped into their noses. People who slept longer and more soundly resisted infection better.

Read the article on Mercola.com's blog.

Close to 90 percent of children have at least one sleep-related problem, such as night terrors, teeth-grinding or bed-wetting. At least 30 percent of children younger than six have difficulties sleeping six consecutive hours. Read the original article in Dr. Mercola's blog.