Wenatex Blog | Healthy Sleep for a Better Life

An article I read this morning online from Reuters really caught my attention. The article talked about the decline in kids’ sleep and focused on three key points:

1. All the way back to the 1800’s, scientists’ recommendations on how long kids should sleep for has always been higher than the actual amount of sleep reported.
2. Doctors’ and scientists’ recommendations for the amount of time kids should sleep have also declined.
3. The actual amount of sleep that kids are getting is also declining. It has fallen by 73 minutes over the last century.

Our modern 24 hour society has meant changing societal expectations.Societal pressures on experts have meant their recommendations for sleep time has decreased. Combine this with the societal pressures on parents which has meant that kids are getting less sleep. Dr David Gozal, expert in child sleep problems, from the University of Chicago sums it up nicely and blames our shorter nights on the accelerated pace of modern society with its 24-7 demands on parents and kids alike.

Does anyone else think that this is a concern? What does this mean for the future of our children? What about their future health? If you are a parent, this article will no doubt make you consider how your kids are sleeping.

At Wenatex, our advice to parents is put your kids to bed early and maintain a regular sleep routine. We agree with the National Institutes of Health in the USA, quoted in the article, for the current recommendations on sleep time. They state that “newborns should get 16 to 18 hours a day. Children fall in between, with preschoolers needing 11 to 12 hours of slumber and older kids and adolescents 10 hours.

Read the full article at http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/13/us-sleep-science-idUSTRE81C0IS20120213 and let us know what you think.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to get a better night’s sleep, come along to a free Wenatex seminar on the subject. We offer seminars all over Australia. You can register your interest at http://www.wenatex.com.au/seminars_registration.asp

Children’s bedrooms are representative of who they are and how they live.

This morning I discovered a fascinating article which is a snippet from a book documentary from Kenyan-born, English-raised, Venice-based photographer James Mollison called Where Children Sleep.

The article that I found came from The Atlantic. As the writer of this article suggested, it is “a remarkable series capturing the diversity of and, often, disparity between children’s lives around the world through portraits of their bedrooms”.

Read the article here.

I just found this article absolutely fascinating and I hope you do too! Please let me know your thoughts.

If you would like to learn about how to get a healthy night’s sleep, come along to a Wenatex free healthy sleep seminar. They are conducted all over Australia. To register your interest, please fill in your details at Wenatex Seminar Registration Page.

It seems that sleeping babies have a certain type of learning ability that is not apparent in sleeping adults. Recent research from the University of Florida has revealed that “newborns act as “data sponges”, absorbing info from their surrounding world non-stop.”

How did researchers test the babies to come up with this finding? They played a tune then blew gentle puffs of air on babies’ eyelids. After a few minutes the majority of the babies anticipated the puff and began squeezing their eyes shut.

It is both fantastic that researchers could think of such an ingenious way of testing newborn babies… and I can’t help but say it, sooooo cute!

You can find the article at http://www.geo.tv/5-20-2010/65259.htm. Do you find this topic as fascinating as I did? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Christmas is supposed to be a relaxing holiday time for kids, but as it turns out, it can be stressful for some. They have so much going on and so much excitement that they do not get enough sleep and can get grumpy.

I read an excellent article on the subject. You can find it at  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iIAKv1KG7VTqRweCeQwPbTzDM6lA

Make sure that your children get enough sleep this holidays… it will be all the better for them and they will enjoy Christmas all the more!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tired Mums, it is as we have always suspected… while asleep, Dads turn a deaf ear to crying babies.

However, Dads, all is not lost. It seems that there may be “evolutionary differences that make women sensitive to sounds associated with a potential threat to their children while men are tuned to disturbances posing a threat to the whole family.”

If you want to read more, this really interesting article can be found at http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/143188/Sleep-patterns-Yes-dads-do-turn-a-deaf-ear.

I know it seems obvious but this article serves as a reminder to all who have children that we should encourage our children to lead active healthy lives. This recent study reaffirms what we have known that active children develop healthy sleeping habits. 

The article I was reading can be found at http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/07/23/sleep-children-exercise.html. Let me know what you think.

When your teenage son or daughter emerges from his/her bedroom at noon, do you accuse him/her of being lazy? Now you might have to think twice as researchers believe there could be a biological reason for why teenagers get up late. For more, read this very interesting article by the BBC in the UK.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7932950.stm

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Let me know what you think.

Be wise and have fun

Juan

Following this newspaper article , a team from the Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne Australia studied almost 4500 children twice, the first time at age 4 – 5, then again at age 6 – 7. Their sleep behaviour was recorded and analysed.

About one-third of the children in the trial reported poor sleep habits.

Children suffering from poor sleep habits may suffer strong detrimental effects

on their health, behaviour, and learning ability.

A simple check on the ABS website showed that in 2002, there were 4 million children in Australia. This means that there are at least 1.3 million children with poor sleep habits…

Hello… is anybody listening!!!???

Until tomorrow be wise and have fun!

Information provided in this blog is to be used for educational purposes only. It should NOT be used as a substitute for seeking professional diagnosis or treatment of any disorder.