What is the price of sleepless nights?

What happens when you don’t get enough sleep? You may feel foggy, sluggish, crave something that might help “wake you up”. In the first night of losing sleep you may feel like you are tired but can push through the day. After subsequent nights you may start to feel less able to focus, have a slower reaction time.

We as humans sleep, because sleep restores our bodies and brains. In a full sleep cycle, we go through phases of sleep, each of which serve a different function. The first few stages are restorative for our muscles and bodies. They may also help our immune systems. The next stage is the REM stage.

REM sleep helps us gather our information from the day and sorts it to make the information stick. Getting enough REM sleep helps us so much long term with concentration, anxiety levels, appetite, and memory. Lack of REM sleep can cause slower cognitive and social processing, trouble with decision making, migraines, diminished coping skills, stronger reactions to negative or scary situations.

For babies, not getting enough sleep may look like a lack of interest in the world around them. They may yawn excessively or flutter their eyelids often. They may have trouble feeding or be more prone to catching a cold.

Toddlers show signs of lack of sleep by being “clingy”, or may have behavioral problems. You may notice a toddler get “wired” or more active as the day goes on while they try to push through being tired. Children can push themselves through being tired in order to spend time with their parents, which is why it may seem like our kids have FOMO (fear of missing out). When they push through and don’t sleep, their body responds by producing more cortisol, the chemical in the brain that causes us to stay alert (yes the same chemical that releases during the fight or flight response). Many parents may notice their child seems to be wired, yet still tired. This is true. They tend to be tired, but can’t seem to fall asleep because they are still wired from all the “alertness chemicals”.

When considering all of this, it makes sense that children NEED sleep, and so do we. But what if my child won’t sleep? Well, we are in charge of making the space they sleep in adequate and we do that by giving them a bed to sleep in that is safe, a dark room whenever possible, and age appropriate wake windows.

If you are struggling to get your child and yourself some rest, I can help! The price of a restful night’s sleep is, as you now know, priceless.

Resources:

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child Marc Weissbluth, M.D.

Solves your child’s sleep problems Richard Ferber, M.D.

Sleep Foundation