Jaipur, Oct. 12 -- Simple, low-cost changes in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), including reducing noise and excessive lighting and grouping routine care activities, can significantly improve newborns' sleep duration, a study authored by a doctor from Jaipur's SMS Medical College has found. The study, titled "Improving sleep duration in NICU graduates: a quality improvement initiative", was published in the journal BMJ Open Quality in 2026. It highlights the importance of protecting sleep among premature and sick newborns to support their growth and brain development. The study included 625 newborns and assessed the impact of interventions such as optimising monitor alarms, reducing environmental noise and lighting, grouping routine care activities and ensuring comfortable positioning. The proportion of newborns sleeping for more than 16 hours a day increased from 15.7% before the interventions to 62.2% after four improvement cycles. Their average daily sleep duration also rose from 12.95 hours to 16.38 hours. The gains were sustained beyond the intervention period, with 58.1% of newborns continuing to sleep for more than 16 hours a day, the study found. The findings suggest improving the NICU environment through better lighting and noise control, staff training and parental involvement can help newborns get more sleep without the need for expensive technology. The research team comprised Dr Ramesh Choudhary, Dr Chetan Meena, Dr Vivek Kumar Athwani and Dr Sunil Gothwal of the Department of Pediatrics, SMS Medical College, Jaipur. The researchers recommended further studies to assess whether the improvement in sleep duration translates into long-term benefits for neurological development. The study was published in BMJ Open Quality, volume 15....