While good sleep is essential for everyone’s good health, getting a good night’s rest is especially important for a child. Sleep issues (whether it’s insomnia or night waking) are one of the most common parental concerns discussed during Cumming preschool and school-aged well visits. And yes, most people recognize the importance of good sleep, yet they may not fully understand what happens during sleep. Let’s examine what parents need to know about a child’s sleeping habits.
How Sleep Helps a Child’s Development
Newborns typically sleep about 14 to 17 hours daily, with irregular sleep patterns. Older kids will not need as much rest, but they can still experience sleep-related issues. If your child isn’t getting the rest they need, the first step is to understand the role sleep plays for a developing child.
What’s there to know about sleeping?
Sleep problems are some of the most common problems parents face with their kids. You may wonder about how to get your child to sleep through the night. Maybe you have a new baby and want to learn how to help them develop good sleep habits that will last a lifetime. Some children may have chronic sleep difficulties, and many children (like most adults!) are actually going through their days sleep-deprived. Read on for information on all these issues and more, and for lots of links to even more resources to help your kids (and you) get a better night’s sleep.
What do I need to know about sleep cycles?
When people sleep, they cycle between rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. In REM, your eyes move around fast, you don’t move your body much, and you dream. REM is light sleep and the stage when your infant or child is most likely to wake up. NREM sleep is deep sleep.
In normal sleep, a child cycles between light sleep and deep sleep. Each light sleep stage is a time when the child is more likely to wake up.
What do I need to know about school-age children and sleep?
School-aged children still need somewhere between 9 and 12 hours of sleep at night. At this age, kids usually start a trend toward becoming more and more sleep deprived. As the parents, you will need to help figure out how much sleep your child needs. Your child is getting the right amount of sleep if they:
- Can fall asleep within 15 to 30 minutes.
- Can wake up easily at the time they need to get up and don’t need you to keep bugging them to get up.
- Are awake and alert all day, and don’t need a nap during the day. Check with your child’s teacher and make sure your child is able to stay awake and alert during school.
In other words, if your child can go to bed, fall asleep easily, wake up easily, and not be tired during the day, then they’re probably getting enough sleep. Remember, sleep guidance is a service offered by newborn pediatricians, and this assistance can continue into young adulthood. So whenever concerns come up, you’ll always be able to access advice.
What Happens to a Child’s Body and Mind During Sleep
You might be surprised by the various stages and changes that occur during sleep. Here are the most important factors and how they affect your child.
Actively Asleep
Scientists used to think that people were physically and mentally inactive during sleep. But now they know that’s not the case. All night long, your body and brain do quite a bit of work that’s key for your health. There are two main types of sleep that we cycle in and out of when we rest — REM (rapid eye movement) and non-REM sleep.
Non-REM Sleep
You begin the night in non-REM sleep and spend most of your rest time there. It starts light, in the “N1” stage, and moves to the deep “N3” stage. During this progression, your brain becomes less responsive to the outside world, and it gets harder to wake up. Your thoughts and most body functions slow down. You spend about half a normal night’s sleep in the “N2” phase, when scientists think you file away long-term memories
REM Stage
This stage got its name because of the way your eyes dart back and forth behind your lids. You dream most in this stage. Your pulse, body temperature, breathing, and blood pressure rise to daytime levels. Your sympathetic nervous system, which helps with automatic responses like “fight or flight,” gets very active. And yet your body stays almost completely still.
Sleep Cycles
You typically go through all the sleep stages three to five times a night. The first REM stage may be just a few minutes, but gets longer with each new cycle, up to about a half an hour. The N3 stage, on the other hand, tends to get shorter with each new cycle. And if you lose REM sleep for whatever reason, your body will try to make it up the next night. Scientists aren’t sure of the purpose of any of this.
Body Temperature
It drops a couple of degrees as you get drowsy before bed and is lowest about 2 hours before you wake up. In REM sleep, your brain even turns off your body thermometer. That’s when heat or cold in your bedroom affects you more. In general, a cooler room helps you sleep better. A few pushups or a jog when you wake raises your temperature and makes you more alert.
Breathing
It changes a lot when you’re awake, of course. But as you fall deeply asleep, you breathe more slowly and in a more regular pattern. Then, as you enter the REM stage, your breathing gets faster and varies more.
Heart Rate
Deep, non-REM sleep lowers your pulse and blood pressure, which gives your heart and blood vessels a chance to rest and recover. But during REM, these rates go back up or change around.
Brain Activity
When you close your eyes and start to drift into non-REM sleep, your brain cells settle down from their daytime activity levels and start firing in a steady, more rhythmic pattern. When you start to dream, your brain cells fire actively and randomly. In fact, in REM sleep, brain activity looks similar to when you’re awake.
Dreams
Though we’ve talked about them for thousands of years, they’re still a mystery in many ways. It’s not clear what causes them or if they have a purpose. They’re most common during REM, especially when they’re very visual, but you can dream in other sleep stages as well. Night terrors — when people appear to be awake and cry out in fear or panic — happen in deeper states of sleep.
Time to Repair
During deep sleep, your body works to repair muscle, organs, and other cells. Chemicals that strengthen your immune system start to circulate in your blood. You spend about a fifth of your night’s sleep in deep sleep when you’re young and healthy — more if you haven’t slept enough. But that starts to fade, and by the time you’re over 65, it could be down to zero.
Take Out the Trash
That’s what scientists think REM does. It helps your brain clear out the information you don’t need. People who take a look at a hard puzzle solve it more easily after they sleep than before. And they remember facts and tasks better, too. Those deprived of REM in particular — compared with other sleep stages — lose this advantage. If you believe this issue is impacting your child, you can reach us through our pediatric telemedicine service.
Brainstem
This area plays a key role in many parts of sleep. It talks to the hypothalamus, another brain structure, to help you drift off and wake up. Together, they make a chemical called GABA that quiets “arousal centers” that might keep you from sleeping. And during REM sleep, the brainstem sends signals to temporarily paralyze muscles that move your body, arms, and legs. That stops you from acting out your dreams.
Hormone Symphony
Your body makes more of some hormones while you’re asleep and lowers others. For example, levels of growth hormone go up, and cortisol, which is tied to stress, goes down. Some scientists think insomnia could be related to a problem with your body’s hormone-making system. Also, a lack of sleep can mess with levels of the hormones that control hunger — leptin and ghrelin — and that can change how much you eat and make you gain weight.
Discuss Your Child’s Sleeping Issues at a Cumming Pediatric Well Visit
Vickery Pediatrics provides sick care and well visits for children of all ages. We are pleased to welcome families from locations including Cumming, Buford, Dawsonville, Gainesville, Johns Creek, Sugar Hill, Suwanee and Forsyth County. Call (678) 990-2501 or request an appointment today.
