[x_author title=”About the Author”]
Up to 30% of children suffer from sleep problems be it their inability to fall asleep or stay asleep. However, a good night’s sleep is vital for physical growth, emotional well-being and cognitive health in children, especially when they are going back to school this autumn season. According to the National Sleep Foundation, children ages 6 to 13 years require a minimum of 9 hours of sleep though it is likely that most children today do not meet this recommendation.
To nap or not to nap?
Napping is one of the reasons commonly incriminated when it comes to bad sleep in children. A scientific study led by Ward in 2007, which investigated the relationship between daytime naps and night time sleep patterns, indicated that daytime napping for children over the age of 2 could lead to a poorer sleep quality during the night, resulting in awakenings.
On the other hand, other studies demonstrated that napping in young children can have a positive impact on their memory. One of them, led amongst pre-school children, concluded that children who nap were able to remember more item locations in a visual-spatial memory game with accuracy than children who do not, outsmarting them by 10%.
In fact, mothers should be aware that every child’s sleeping requirements could be different. If napping is working wonders on your child, then don’t change anything. Otherwise, investigate if napping is really the issue at hand, and make changes in consequence.
Mum, Dad, the Doctor said that homework is bad for me
Since it is the back to school season, take note of the amount of homework your child is dealing with, as it may affect your child’s sleep at night. This could be the reason why roughly 60-70% of students experience sleepiness during their morning classes, based on a study conducted on approximately 2 million Canadian school children in 2002.
It is important to encourage kids to practice good study habits informing them that staying up late trying to finish their homework will actually do more harm than good. Mums and dads should also make sure that their child’s homework is not to be done close to or in the bed, nor near bedtime as the child may psychologically associate his bed with a place of stress.
So if your child has problems falling asleep, ask yourself if that piece of homework cannot wait until tomorrow. As far as sleep is concerned, a little procrastination may not be that bad!
Sleepwise, how would you rate your child’s bedroom?
If your child is suffering from symptoms such as sleep problems and irritability, then he or she might be suffering from short-term insomnia.
You can help by maintaining a comfortable sleeping environment. First, the temperature in the bedroom must be between 16 to 20 degrees Celsius. Second, you must make sure that humidity levels are not too high. Approximately ⅓ of people who sleep in damp buildings will experience a greater risk of insomnia due to the aggravation of pre-existing allergic conditions such as asthma or eczema.
Short-term insomnia, if experienced in a comfortable sleeping environment, usually improves within a few weeks, once your child’s body starts to adjust to a regular sleeping schedule.
Help, my child is snoring!
Do you find your child breathing heavily during sleep? Or snoring loudly and occasionally pausing?
This could be an early sign of the development of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), when breathing stops for prolonged periods of time during sleep. This causes a dip in the oxygen levels in the brain thus interrupting your child’s sleep. OSA is prevalent in up to 3% of children and is linked to poor sleep quality. A family history of OSA, being overweight and signs of daytime sleepiness are associated with this condition.
Children developing OSA are reported as having difficulty concentrating during classes, a poor memory and lower IQs, which may eventually lead to lower grades for school tests.
If you think your child might have OSA, it is well advised to consult a doctor as soon as possible. Indeed performance in school tests is known to be substantially better following an effective treatment to OSA, so it would not be wise to let such a condition aside thinking the problem will solves itself.
Are you sure your child is not caffeine-addicted?
Since 1977, there has been a 70% increase in the consumption of caffeine in children. Caffeine is not only found in coffee and chocolate but also added in energy drinks and sodas that are available in vending machines often available at schools. However, in spite of its popularity, caffeine affects a child’s sleep: in average, children ages 2 to 18 who consume more than one can of 250ml soda daily reported disrupted sleep than less frequent soda drinkers.
Caffeine works by targeting certain receptors in the brain to stimulate wakefulness and an increased sense of well-being. Simultaneously, the reward centre of the brain is tickled and attributes the ‘feel good’ sensation to caffeine. That is how coffee gets its addictive nature!
Soda can contain up to 55mg of caffeine, as in an espresso restaurant-style coffee, while energy drinks can contain up to 207mg, which is more than any cup of coffee!
Even though there is little evidence about the amount of caffeine deemed ‘safe’ for children, it is wise to let your little ones consume as little as possible!
Mum, Dad, can I sleep with my tablet tonight?
The light from these devices interferes with the body’s melatonin release and tricks the body into thinking it is daytime. A study showed that children, who play video games or watch television for more than 2 hours a day once the sun had set, report getting less sleep than those who watch less.
This could be the reason why up to 39% of children have difficulty waking up for school in the morning. Sleeping near small screens is proven to be more harmful than having a TV in your child’s bedroom. This is because lighted or audible notifications from tablets or phones may wake your child up in the middle of the night. Children who sleep near small screens reported 20.6 minutes fewer sleep than those who sleep away from them.
Even though a few minutes a day may not seem significant, your child might be losing up to 124 hours of sleep each year, which is almost a full week of sleep!
Sources
- Lathrop. 2013. Sleep Research Study Finds Daytime Naps Enhance Learning in Preschool Children. UMassAmherst. Retrieved from: https://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/sleep-research-study-finds-daytime-naps
- Ward et. Al (2007). Sleep and Napping Patterns in 3-to-5-year old Children Attending Full-Day Childcare Centers. J. Pediatr. Psychol. 2008 33: 666-672. Retrieved from: http://jpepsy.oxfordjournals.org/content/33/6/666.full
- Hirshkowitz, M. et al. 2015. National Sleep Foundation’s sleep time duration recommendation: methodology and results summary. Journal of the National Sleep Foundation. Vol 1. pp. 40 – 43.
- Bezzina et. Al. 2012. Sleep Disorders and the Sleeping Environment: A Neurological Approach. Positive Health Online. Retrieved from: http://www.positivehealth.com/article/sleep-and-insomnia/sleep-disorders-and-the-sleeping-environment-a-neurological-approach
- Cleveland Clinic Children’s. 2013. Insomnia in children. Retrieved from: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/childrens-hospital/health-info/diseases-conditions/hic-Insomnia
- Gozal, D. 2008. Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Children: Implications for the Developing Central Nervous System. Seminars in Pediatric Neurology. 15(2), pp.100–106.Ntambwe, M. 2012.
- Drugs Inducing Insomnia as an Adverse Effect. Retrieved from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/can-t-sleep-issues-of-being-an-insomniac/drugs-inducing-insomnia-as-anadverse-effect
- Temple, J. 2009. Caffeine Use in Children: What we know, what we have left to learn and, why we should worry. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 33(6). pp.793-806.
- Garmy, P. et al. 2012. Sleep and Television and Computer Habits of Swedish School-Age Children. The Journal of School Nursing. 28(6). pp.469-476.
- Falbe, J. et al. 2015. Sleep Duration, Restfulness, and Screens in the Sleep Environment. Official Journal of the American Academy of Paediatrics. 135(2).
