health
Sleep Specialist Kate Bridle offers
advice on how to ensure your
child is getting enough sleep
F
or children, getting enough
sleep, as well as getting good
quality sleep, is crucial. There
is a reason why, when a baby
is born, it spends the majority of it’s 24
hour day sleeping. It is only during sleep
that we release growth hormones to
physically grow, and it is when we sleep
that we develop and strengthen neural
connections to allow us to develop
mentally and learn new skills. Not only
that, but sleep is our master regulator.
It is when all of our internal systems
are re-calibrated. When we don’t get
enough of it, or we have interrupted
sleep, we can’t regulate anything
optimally (as many mum’s reading this
will know) from our emotions, to our
body temperature, to our appetite and
the type of foods we crave.
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Children are particularly sensitive
to even slight amounts of sleep
deprivation, and even 30 minutes
deprivation per night will result in
significant behavioural changes during
the day. This is due to them being
unable to regulate certain hormones,
those which regulate mood and
emotion, as well as concentration
levels, and energy levels when they do
not get enough sleep. Unlike adults,
when sleep deprived children often
become hyperactive, and this often
creates a vicious cycle of them being
unable to get to sleep at a reasonable
hour, leading to further sleep
deprivation. In fact, the symptoms
of sleep deprivation in children are
almost identical to the symptoms seen
in Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD). It is therefore
essential that if your child is displaying
any of these symptoms-impulsiveness,
problems focusing, mood swings,
hyperactive behaviour to name a few,
that you first ensure that they are
getting enough good quality sleep on a
regular basis.
School aged children need a
minimum of 10 hours sleep, many
need closer to 12 hours, until they start
reaching early teenage years when
9-10 hours is usually sufficient. There
is very little variability between young
children as to how much sleep they
need as a minimum and it is extremely
rare to find an exception to the 10-
hour rule wherever you go in the world.
The other big factor is to ensure that
the hours during which they sleep are