Sleep

Sleep Matters

Being a parent can be one of the most rewarding things we do. It can also be one of the most exhausting. Being the parent of a child who doesn’t sleep is even more exhausting.

When we are exhausted we don’t think as clearly as we do after a good night's sleep and we are less capable of implementing good parenting strategies for our children.

This is particularly apparent at the end of the day when we may need all our resilience to help our children learn to sleep. Having a child that doesn’t sleep results in a whole family that doesn’t sleep, thus it is really important for the whole family to address this.

Tests in adults have shown that after being awake for 17 hours or more (e.g 6am to 11pm) our psychomotor performance (movements caused by mental activity) drops to the same level as being at the legal alcohol threshold for driving. It is no wonder that sleepiness causes 30 % of road accidents in Europe.

We tend to think of sleep as one of the most natural things that we do – but a good sleep cycle is a learnt skill. We all perform better when we have had a good night's sleep. Being tired and ratty really is a thing for children and adults.

What is sleep?

When we sleep we go through different stages that can be picked up on recordings of brain and muscle activity, with periods of light sleep and periods of deep sleep.

During light sleep it is normal to wake up – but learning to self-settle back to sleep is a learnt skill. We use the same techniques to resettle back to sleep as we do when we first fall asleep at the beginning of the night. Thus if we can get the first part right it is much easier to master the rest.

Why Sleep matters

Sleep is restorative

Sleep helps our cognitive function

Children with more sleep are less restless in the day
Children with more sleep are more emotionally stable

One of the biggest roles of sleep is to allow for the consolidation of day time learning – during the day information is held in the hypocampus (part of the brain) where it is not stored.

During sleep the information is moved to the neocampus (also in the brain) where it is stored. Therefore how well and how long you sleep for is linked with how well you perform.

Sleep helps our behavioural state

Children with poor sleep tend to show more externalising behaviours – inattention/ hyperactivity and also more internalising behaviours such as sadness and anxiety.

During dream sleep the emotional part of the brain is fired up, but the motor areas are switched off. This allows you to process emotional things to strengthen the memory but reduce the emotional tone – this in turn allows you to deal with and to learn from difficult or emotional events, which is an important part of emotional wellbeing.

How does sleep work?

During the day our brain works hard to help us perform all the activities that we need to do.

As a result of this, chemicals accumulate in the brain that need to be cleared so that we can start the whole process again the next day. One of these chemicals is called Adenosine. When these levels get high they trigger the sleep pathway in the brain to make us feel sleepy.

This can be overridden by sensory inputs and can be blocked by caffeine – so it really is true that caffeine can keep you awake. Caffeine is found in tea, coffee, energy drinks, and chocolate.

We also have a biological clock that is deep in the brain, which receives light signals to control the rhythm of our sleep/ wake pattern. This is called the circadian rhythm

What do we need to be able to sleep?

There are 4 main things that we need to go to sleep:

The brain must be ready – from the buildup of adenosine and the information from the biological clock to maintain the circadian rhythm.
We must be in the right cognitive state – it is hard to sleep when we have lots of things whizzing around in our head
The environment must be right – comfort, light, noise etc
Choose to go to sleep.

How much sleep do children need?

Sleep and neurodevelopmental disorders

Sleep can be a challenge for all parents but children with neurodevelopmental

disorders often find it harder to learn the skills needed to sleep.

Some children with neurodevelopmental disorders also need less sleep. It is however possible in most cases to help your child to develop a healthy sleep routine and obtain more sleep. It is also possible to help your child to be calm and quiet when awake when the rest of the house is asleep so that everyone in the house can
get the sleep they need.

It is particularly important for children with neurodevelopmental disorders to optimise their sleep to help with their ability to learn and manage their behaviours in the day.

Sleep and Doctor Kate

At Doctor Kate we will be able to explore what is happening at night for you and your

child through the use of sleep dairies as well as information gathered from you.

We will use this information to identify the correct strategies to help your teach your child to fall asleep and to stay asleep at night. One of the most common things we hear in clinic is – “I have tried everything and nothing works”.

There is no easy, quick-win solution – the solution is to find the correct strategy and to stick to it until it is embedded. This can take a long time in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

We know that implementing a sleep plan takes energy, persistence and resilience from parents and we also know that sometimes now isn’t the right time to do that. We will therefore help you to find the right time for you and your family to embark on this work and help you to create an environment where it is most likely to work