THE IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP
FOR YOUR HEALTH
Optimal learning starts after 10 a.m., yet the majority of
junior high schools start around 8. (This scheduling allows
economical shared busing with elementary schools.) How can our
young teens achieve their full academic potential in this
scenario?
THE RESEARCH
At about age 12 the body undergoes chemical and
physiological changes which affect the daily wake-sleep pattern
(circadian rhythm). The sleep hormone, melatonin, kicks in later
making it difficult for teens to fall asleep early enough on
school nights.
A 2002 study at the University of Toronto reports, "Strong
evidence was found that children's optimal time of day preference
shifts toward evening at about 13 years of age."
Teens need 8.5 to 9.25 hours sleep every night. Even more
important is the sleep at the end of the sleep cycle (the REM
sleep), which is necessary for hard wiring, sorting and
remembering information learned during the day. Teens need more
REM sleep then adults and when forced to wake up early, they
sacrifice those vital final hours in the sleep cycle.
Lack of sleep can also cause mood swings, behaviour
problems, depression, impaired immune function and car accidents.
Sleep expert, Dr.Mary Carskadon, at Bradley Hospital, In East
Providence, Rhode Island, says, "Too many teens come to school
too sleepy to learn. And their fatigue often leads to behaviour
problems that contribute to a negative overall school performance
and experience."
THE BRANTON STORY
Jacques Ferguson is a man with vision and determination. As
principal of Branton Junior High he knew the research and saw
first hand the results of students arising before dawn to catch
their school bus. He resolved to solve the problem. He recruited
sleep expert, Ward Flemons, to speak to Branton parents. He
explains, "My biggest thing here was to keep the focus on what
was right for the kids, and what was right for the kids is to be
able to start at a later part of the morning." Fortunately his
school shared a bus route with only one elementary school,
Varsity Acres. Consultations with Varsity's principal, Jeannie
Woods, who thought that her students would do better starting
earlier and leaving earlier as they typically got sleepy by 2
p.m., facilitated a trade of start times, beginning with this
school year. Branton students now start at 9:10 a.m.
Although its too soon to measure academic results, Ferguson
says that his kids are happier, more alert and attendance is
better with fewer lates. Parents have also thanked him and
admitted that last year they sometimes kept their overtired
children at home.
Marnie Fothergill, a Branton parent, was active on school
council last year to change the staff time.
EVERYONE PAYS PRICE FOR LACK OF SHUT EYE
TAKE A PEEK IN THE LOOKING GLASS - IT'S NO WONDER YOU CAN'T
SLEEPS
You dragged yourself from bed at 6 a.m. to pack lunch for
the kids before making them breakfast and grabbing a quick
shower. You dropped them oft at school because their bus had
already left, which made you late for work - for the third day
(but who's counting)?
You made up for lost time by working through lunch, and
guzzled three cups of coffee to get you through the afternoon.
Racing home through rush-hour, you arrived to find 10-year-old
twins Billy and Mark playing video games on the computer and
eight-year-old Jennifer propped in front of the TV. Your spouse
was working late, so the rest of the family gobbled re-heated
pizza and luke-warn cola before hopping in the car for soccer
practice and music lessons.
By bedtime, you were exhausted but decided to do one quick
email check, and ended up spending the next hour tapping out
replies.
You don't have to be Alice in Wonderland to figure out that
cramming too much into your day will leave you tossing at night.
Whether it's mom, dad or the kids, many of us are not getting
enough sleep and we're paying the price physically, mentally and
emotionally.
"As families, we really need to appreciate that sleep DOES
matter;" says Dr.Carl Hunt, director of the Bethesda,
Maryland-based National Centre on Sleep Disorders Research.
"It's not as if the brain needs to rest; many parts of the brain
are active as we sleep," Hunt says. "But we know its important
for the body to have restoration and reorganization-downtime:"
Sleep experts tell us this is what happens when we doze:
* Our immune system is activated to combat diseases, including
infections;
* Natural killer cells, which target tumors, are boosted;
* Growth hormones are released.
Perhaps, because of these factors, people who sleep between
eight and nine hours are more likely to live longer. (A published
Harvard University study of 72,000 nurses in the U.S. found that
women who slept an average of five hours or less were 39 per cent
more likely to develop heart disease than those who got eight
hours.)
"Sleep disorders are often not recognized in children," says
Hunt, a leading North American expert on sleep issues. "Symptoms
related to sleep deprivation may be erroneously attributed to
hyperactivity, or behavior disorders, to boredom with school, or
to today's hectic lifestyles."
Hunt says many people don't realize that a lack of sleep
and/or poor sleep patterns can seriously hamper learning among
children, and have a detrimental affect on behaviour. Among
students, for example, the result can be decreased concentration,
inability to grasp lessons, a drop in grades and even an
increased risk of playground accidents for younger children.
Research tells us that being sleep deprived for 24 hours gives
you a performance level that is roughly compared to being
intoxicated. Getting a good nights sleep helps you do a good job
of whatever you do during the day," Hunt says.
Two years ago, the sleep institute launched a major
awareness campaign targeting sleep issues in children.
The sleep Well/Do Well message - promoted through the website at
www.nhlbi.nih/gov/heallh/public/sleep/starslp/
- uses Garfield the Cat as its Star Sleeper and encourages the
importance of nine hours of sleep each night for children. The
website features separate sections for children, parents,
teachers and pediatricians to provide helpful tips and even
educational games to promote better sleep habits for families.
According to Calgary doctor Peter Nieman, author of an
upcoming position paper for the Canadian Pediatric Society (CPS)
on sleep disorders, families today are hungry for useful data on
improving sleep. "There's a need for more information," says
Nieman, who this year set up a website at www.healhykids.ca
to provide a resource for sleep-hungry families.
She admits that not all parents supported the change. "It
should be an academic issue," she says when confronted with the
practical difficulties.
Although she believes the change was a good one, her son,
now in Grade 8, is annoyed he no longer has as much time off in
the afternoon. She admits, "I think there was less happiness with
the change than I would have thought." Still, her son appears
better rested this year.
TOWARD A SOLUTION
Although Bishop Pinkham Junior High no longer has early
dismissal day (Friday is late-entry day instead), Principal, Dr.
Cheryl Oishi, and the school council support a later start every
day. However their school bus routes are shared with five
elementary schools which would all have to agree to start earlier
- difficult, not impossible. The only reasonable solution is for
all Calgary junior high schools and elementary schools to change
their start times simultaneously and alter the busing schedules
accordingly. Carol Bazinet, President of CAPSC, said the topic
was addressed at a CBE meeting on Oct. 21. As a result, the CBE
has hired a consulting firm to look at the implications of a
start time change en masse for junior high and elementary
schools.
Nieman notes CPS has taken an official position discouraging
parents from allowing televisions in their kids' bedrooms. (The
issue of bedside computers has not been formally addressed,
although many experts suggest a link between late-night video
games and online browsing with reduced sleep among kids,
teenagers and even parents)
However, Dr.Ian MacLusky a father of two and head of the
sleep clinic at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, says
he doesn't need any more research to explain why kids don't get
enough sleep. As he recently reported, "TV and video games are
the kiss of the death."
Dr.Nieman recommends strong supervision by parents of their
youngsters' TV, computer and video-game consumption adding "these
things can be overstimulating and the parent is still the best
fitter at the end of the day."
Children thrive best on a consistent sleep pattern, says
Nieman who suggests parents learn more about their kids' sleep
needs by allowing them to choose their own bedtime and wake-up
time when on holidays. "If they're sleeping nine or 10 hours,
then you know that's the child's natural rhythm. Make sure how
much sleep your child really needs and make sure they get that.
Sleep is more important than what food we eat," says Dr.Valerie
Kirk, a pediatrician at Alberta Children's Hospital. "It is more
important than exercise. I would like to see sleep hygiene put on
the school curriculum."
Calgary chartered psychologist Elizabeth Miles, who operates
a private practice and provides counselling through the Grace
Women's Health Centre, says "poor sleep activates a stress
response and can become a downward spiral. Its just unrealistic
to think we can go a million miles a day and think we can go to
sleep without trouble. We have this time famine, where we
frantically try to fit everything in."
Miles, who wrote a paper for the Calgary Health Region on
the need for better sleep -
(www.calgaryheallhregion.ca/hlthconn/topics/sleep.htm), says
there are some practical solutions for parents or children who
have trouble sleeping. Perhaps the bedroom is too cool or too
warm, or not dark enough. The pillow or bed might be
uncomfortable, or possibly too much caffeine in the form of
coffee, tea, cola, chocolate and so on is being consumed.
Miles notes that caffeine can stay in the body for 16 hours,
so some people - particularly those who are sensitive to the
stimulant - should try to avoid caffeineladen food and drink
altogether. As well, she stresses that parents encourage children
- as well as themselves - to include restful winding-down time
before bed to ease into sleep.
"Teenagers, in particular, tend to need more sleep than they
think they do," says Miles.
(Research shows that teens may be the most sleep-deprived of all
children - their sleep needs can be as high as those of a
preschooler - nine hours a night.)
"You can't force someone to sleep ... just make sure they're in
their room doing quiet things and don't force them to just lie
there in the dark."
Miles suggests visualization, a type of meditation, can
sometimes be helpful for insomniacs. Some patients find success
by writing out mantras and repeating them, such as "I'm going to
have a great sleep tonight."
More than just counting sheep, visualizations can include
such examples as picturing a serene, beautiful garden and walking
down a long flight of steps to the garden and, hopefully, falling
asleep as you arrive.
Dr.Murray Flotre, a physician with the Calgary-based
Canadian Sleep Institute, says good sleep patterns should be
established early in a child's life and parents should practise
what they preach. "As parents, we tend to pass things on to our
children. Kids pick this stuff up."
Parents must also set reasonable goals for extra-curricular
activities to ensure kids aren't trying to do too much. "Sleep
tends to be undervalued. We are a 24-hour-a-day society. Having a
good, rich life as a child is a good thing; the problem is there
are only a certain number of hours in a day."
Flotre notes some kids are simply night owls whose body
clocks are on a different time-table than the rest of us. Often,
these people grow up and choose late-night jobs such as waiters
and deejays. "They're just wired differently."
As well, people of all ages can suffer from a condition
known as Seasonal Affective Order (SAD), which can cause
depression and sleep problems due in part to the shorter daylight
hours of winter. "For some of these people, winter is a horrible
time," Flofre says. Many SAD patients respond well to light
therapy, in which exposure to certain kinds of light helps
reset a sufferer's biological clock. So how do you know if sleep
deprivation is an issue for your children? Poor sleepers might be
cranky, unusually hyperactive, have difficulty waking up in the
morning or develop night-time symptoms such as snoring or
sleepwalking. Snoring, in particular, can be a sign that the
child has developed a treatable condition known as Sleep Apnea.
The condition is when the airway at the back of the throat either
partially or completely closes during deep sleep when the
children are fully relaxed. That can restrict oxygen flow and as
a result the brain doesn't completely relax. Children wake up
tired and cranky.
More than 50,000 Canadian children may suffer from sleep
apnea; children ages two to eight are most vulnerable. There are
two main reasons that children develop the disorder: obesity and
enlarged adenoids or tonsils. It can also result from facial
deformities or as a symptom of neummuscular problems.
Parents who worry their kids have a sleep problem should
raise the issue with their family physician, who may refer their
young patient to a sleep clinic, Flotre says. As well as the
sleep institute in south Calgary where Flotre is based, there is
a pediatric sleep centre at the Alberta Children's Hospital as
well as a clinic at Foothills Hospital.
Support groups, both online and in the real word, can also
offer help. The Sleep Apnea Society of Alberta, for example,
provides fellowship for members who suffer from the condition.
The group, which has chapters in Calgary, Edmonton and Lethbridge
provides online resources at www.sleepapnea.ab.ca.
.......................
As you will gather, this article was in a local Calgary, Alberta,
magazine. The magazine is called "Alberta Parent Quarterly" - the
Winter 2003 edition.
The Dr.Hunt mentioned in this article is no relative to me -
Keith Hunt
I again will mention that the once upon a time the famous "Health
and Strength Course" by Charles Atlas (his lessons I still have
from the 50s) taught that getting about 8 hours of sleep a day,
as a way of life, was one of the important rules to maintain
health.
Entered on this Website December 2003
