Adult sleep

March 7, 2018 by Angela Walsh Leave a Comment

Daylight Saving Time. Are you Ready?

Has anyone noticed how quickly Daylight Saving Time is creeping up? Did you know it takes place this Sunday, March 11th? I’m not really sure I’m ready to get up in the dark again, and to loose an hour. And what about young families who struggle with their children getting used to the new time? Those are definitely negatives. But in the end we all know it’s worth it to have those longer evenings and lots of daylight!

So what should you do to prepare your children for the time change? Starting tonight, begin putting them to bed 15 minutes earlier than usual. If they always have gone to bed at 7, tonight it will be 6:45. The following night make it another 15 minutes earlier and so on, until they are going to bed, one full hour earlier from when you started.

For adults and children, it can take our bodies a few days to adjust to time changes; it’s good to get an early start on Daylight Saving Time. Initially your child may not feel sleepy, or be able to settle and fall asleep as easily with this change, therefore household activities need to change as well!

What you can do:

Serve dinner earlier

Dim the lights in the house

Turn electronics off

Begin the bedtime routine earlier and increase the time you spend

By doing all these things, you allow your child’s body to begin the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone.

Your child’s internal sleep clock is set by light and dark, so not only do you want to make the house dark at night in preparation for sleep, you also want to expose your child to as much sunshine and daylight as possible. This will reprogram your child’s clock and get him or her adjusted to the new time. Now you can be ready to welcome spring and summer, and the long evenings they bring!

Let me know if you have other tips to help kids adjust to the time change.

Angela Walsh is a Family Sleep Institute, Certified Infant and Child Sleep Consultant and the founder of Babes in Sleepland. She helps sleep deprived babies, children and families, get back on track and get the sleep they need and desire. To learn more about Angela and how she can help you, visit her website: babesinsleepland.com Also get sleep tips, the latest research on baby and child products, and be part of her weekly Q and A at her Facebook page: Babes in Sleepland.

March 13, 2015 by Angela Walsh Leave a Comment

How Did You Survive the Time Change?

I was just reading an article entitled Changing the Clocks Wasn’t Good for Your Relationships. Well speaking personally I wouldn’t go that far, but I would say I found it very difficult. Each morning it was a struggle getting out of bed and I never seemed tired at night when the clock said 10PM (my usual bedtime!) All I can say is, I sympathize with those young families whose children weren’t tired at bedtime, and could not get up in the morning for school. As well as those babies and toddlers who really had trouble with their morning and afternoon nap schedules. I’m hoping many of you read my article offering sleep tips for the time change. http://www.myprgenie.com/view-publication/daylight-saving-time-to-spring-ahead-sleep-tips-by-babes-in-sleepland,

Well to get to the main point of this, the article I referred to at the beginning discusses how a lack of sleep and sleep deprivation has negative consequences to relationships, (and I would add to families and the work place.) In particular, we act more selfishly, we become more volatile and impulsive, and we have less control over our emotions. At home, we are more likely to argue with our loved ones!

In research published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, participants were shown more likely to have selfish tendencies and unable to see their partner’s perspective, when they slept poorly. Serena Chen, a psychology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-researcher, claimed that “if you sleep poorly you are prone to be self-centered;” your focus is “me,me,me.”

A variety of studies that are mentioned in this article show many negative side effects to the time change, As already mentioned:

impulsivity
volatility
less-control (also called ego-depletion)
selfish tendencies

And in addition:

less moral awareness
more time spent aimlessly surfing the internet
increase in workplace injuries
increase in heart attacks

So what is the take away? We all need sleep and as a Pediatric Sleep Consultant, I know we all need consolidated and restorative sleep. If a one- hour time change can wreak so much havoc, just imagine how much more many sleepless nights, can wreak.

This is what I see in my practice:

Overtired and overstressed parents, and the main cause of this is that their children are not sleeping; not because they’re changing their clocks twice a year.

If you feel you are one of those parents, and you know it’s because your children are not sleeping, let me help you. I can get your kids sleeping again and allowing all of you to get the sleep you desire and more importantly, need!

Let me know what you think. Was this article helpful?

July 3, 2014 by Angela Walsh Leave a Comment

Is There a Link Between Obesity in Children and an Inadequate Amount of Sleep?

Did you know that children who don’t get the proper amount of sleep are at risk for obesity? A study performed by Barbara Fiese, director of the Family Resiliency Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana, and reported at Webmd.com looked at children who had at least ten hours of sleep a night, consistent mealtime routines, no televisions in bedrooms and screen time limited to two hours a day. As important as all these conditions are, an adequate amount of sleep was found to be the most important factor in a child having a healthy weight.

Adults were also studied and found to need at least seven hours of sleep a night as well as consistent mealtimes, to keep their body weight at a healthy level.

Additionally, when parents respected and valued their own sleep needs, it had a positive effect on the number of hours their children slept.

When you make sleep hygiene an important part of your healthy lifestyle, everyone wins!

What about you? Do you feel you get the proper amount of sleep needed everyday?

April 10, 2014 by Angela Walsh Leave a Comment

Things You Need to Know About Sleep Deprivation

I think we all know how bad we feel when we don’t get the proper amount of sleep. It’s very obvious to us (we can’t keep our eyes open or focus properly) and to those around us (we’re cranky and short tempered.) But overtime a lack of sleep can lead to sleep deprivation, which according to Dr. Jeremy Dean, a psychologist and author of the book, Making Habits, Breaking Habits: How to Make Changes that Stick, can have very grave psychological effects.

Here are the most serious:

1. Our brains have to work harder. This is evidenced by imaging studies of sleep deprived brains working overtime to pump energy into the brain’s prefrontal cortex.

2. Our short term memory, also known as “working memory,” necessary for remembering basic functions, and complex tasks; as well as our long term memory, necessary for consolidating, ordering and integrating all the things we learn and do, is compromised.

3. We have trouble making decisions.

4. We revert back to what comes naturally or easy for us. Dr. Dean uses a good example for this. “When we are sleep deprived it is more common for us to eat junk food.” There isn’t a lot of thinking or planning involved in grabbing a bag of chips!

5. We are more prone to take risks. We have all experienced negative consequences from bad choices we have made. Well, when we are tired, logic and reason tend to fly out the window, and we are apt to make those very bad decisions once again.

6. Brain cells die. In a study using mice, 25% of certain brain cells died when they were sleep deprived.

7. Mania, psychosis, paranoia, hallucinations and aggression, are observed in people who suffer from mental illness and this can become a vicious cycle.

8. We are more likely to be in a car accident, because we are unaware of how overtired we really are. We can feel fine and able to drive one minute, and then in the next minute, it hits us and we are falling asleep at the wheel.

In conclusion, Dr. Dean believes that just one good night of sleep will do the trick and solve all these problems. But ultimately, if our children are not sleeping, we will not sleep either. (This is the number one reason why adults don’t get the sleep they need!)

Unfortunately, children are a bit more complex and cannot just erase a sleep debt in one night; and as long as they are in this overtired state, they will not sleep well or properly- another vicious cycle. Avoid this problem by making sure your child gets the sleep they need every day. Not only will they be happier and healthier, you’ll start getting the sleep you need too!

Daylight Saving Time. Are you Ready?

How Did You Survive the Time Change?

Is There a Link Between Obesity in Children and an Inadequate Amount of Sleep?

Things You Need to Know About Sleep Deprivation

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