News from the Nurse: We all need sleep!

By Andrea Ray-Anderson

For Puyallup Tribal News
Published on: September 18, 2008

Finding time to get a good night’s sleep is difficult for many children, teenagers and adults. However studies have shown that different age groups need different amounts of sleep. This is beneficial for may reasons.

DID YOU KNOW that getting enough sleep helps you stay healthy, safe and feeling good? A good night’s sleep will also help you with the following:

• To remember what you learned all day

•    To have more energy for sports and

        playing

• To fight germs and illness better

• To pay attention

• To feel better about yourself

We have noticed many students complaining of not feeling well, only to find out they have only had a few hours of sleep the night before. Here are the recommendations from the National Sleep Foundation. You can get more information on sleep recommendations by going to www.sleepfoundation.org.

Sleep and Preschoolers (3-5 yrs.)

Preschoolers typically sleep 11-13 hours each night and most do not nap after five years of age. As with toddlers, difficulty falling asleep and waking up during the night are common. With further development of imagination, preschoolers commonly experience nighttime fears and nightmares. In addition, sleepwalking and sleep terrors peak during preschool years.

Sleep tips for preschoolers:

• Maintain a regular and consistent sleep

        schedule.

•    Have a relaxing bedtime routine that ends

        in the room where the child sleeps.

•    Child should sleep in the same sleeping

        environment every night, in a room that

        is cool, quiet, dark – and without a TV.

Sleep and School-aged children (5-12 yrs.)

Children aged five to 12 need 10-11 hours of sleep. At the same time, there is an increasing demand on their time from school (e.g., homework), sports and other extracurricular and social activities. In addition, school aged children become more interested in TV, computers, the media and Internet as well as caffeine products – all of which can lead to difficulty falling asleep, nightmares and disruptions to their sleep. In particular, watching TV close to bedtime has been associated with bedtime resistance, difficulty falling asleep, anxiety around sleep and sleeping fewer hours.

Sleep problems and disorders are prevalent at this age. Poor or inadequate sleep can lead to mood swings, behavioral problems such as hyperactivity and cognitive problems that impact on their ability to learn in school.

Sleep Tips for School-aged Children:

•    Teach school-aged children about

        healthy sleep habits.

•    Continue to emphasize need for regular

        and consistent sleep schedule and bed

        time routine.

•    Make child's bedroom conducive to

        sleep – dark, cool and quiet. Keep TV

        and computers out of the bedroom.

•    Avoid caffeine.

Sleep and Teenagers (13-19 years)

Teens need 8 ½ -9 ½ hours of sleep each night. Sleep is vital to your well being, as important as the air you breathe, the water you drink and the food you eat. It can even help you to eat better and manage the stress of being a teen. Biological sleep patterns shift toward later times for both sleeping and waking during adolescence – meaning it is natural to not be able to fall asleep before 11 pm.

Teens need about 9 1/4 hours of sleep each night to function best (for some, 8 1/2 hours is enough). Most teens DO NOT get enough sleep – one study found that only 15 percent reported sleeping 8 1/2 hours on school nights. Teens tend to have irregular sleep patterns across the week – they typically stay up late and sleep in late on the weekends, which can affect their biological clocks and hurt the quality of their sleep. Many teens suffer from treatable sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, insomnia, restless legs syndrome or sleep apnea.

Sleep deprivation has serious consequences

Not getting enough sleep or having sleep difficulties can:

• Limit your ability to learn, listen, con-

        centrate and solve problems. You may

        even forget important information like

        names, numbers, your homework or a

        date with a special person in your life;

• Make you more prone to pimples. Lack

        of sleep can contribute to acne and other

        skin problems;

•    Lead to aggressive or inappropriate

        behavior such as yelling at your friends

        or being impatient with your teachers or

        family members;

•    Cause you to eat too much or eat

    unhealthy foods like sweets and fried

        foods that lead to weight gain;

•    Heighten the effects of alcohol and pos-

        sibly increase use of caffeine and nicotine;

• Contribute to illness, not using equipment

        safely or driving drowsy.

Adult sleep needs

Adults need 7-9 hours of sleep a night on average.

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