Infants

Here's what Andrew Huberman and guest Matt Walker have discussed regarding infants:

1. Emotional Development: Andrew Huberman talks about the "Strange Situation Task" experiments by Bolby and Ainsworth. These experiments classify infants into four attachment styles based on their response when a caregiver leaves and returns: secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized. Secure babies display happiness when the caregiver returns, while the other types exhibit various forms of anxiety or avoidance 1.

2. Sleep Patterns: Infants spend almost 50% of their sleep time in REM sleep, which is essential for brain synapse formation. REM sleep acts like "electrical fertilizer" for brain development. As infants grow, the amount of REM sleep decreases, and non-REM sleep increases, aiding in skills like limb coordination and walking. By age 5-6, their sleep patterns stabilize into a consistent ratio of about 80% non-REM and 20% REM sleep 2.

These insights highlight the importance of sleep and emotional attachments during infancy for healthy development.