a Quick Word About Sleep
It helps to understand a bit about sleep before one can begin to make big changes and implement good sleep habits. What is sleep? What are some of the benefits of sleep? Do we need sleep? In short, sleep is a restorative function of the body and mind, and an essential part of our survival, much like food and water. Most of the body’s growth happens when we sleep and in fact it is responsible for the growth of every system in the body.
Without it, the brain cannot form or maintain pathways that are responsible for allowing you to create new memories, and our ability to learn and retain information is severely compromised. Sleep also allows the body to remove toxins from the brain that build up while we are awake.
Inadequate sleep and irregular sleep-wake patterns, in all ages, can wreak havoc on our circadian rhythm, our mood and sense of being, causing a slew of issues, some of which we may not even realize are present in our children.
What you might think to be a normal amount of sleep for your baby may very well be too little sleep, causing the child to experience anxiety, irritability, clumsiness, have diminished focus, exhaustion, behavioral issues, delayed responses, the list goes on…
A parent might easily attribute such behavioral patterns to a stubborn, short-fused or overly-sensitive child. One may think that their child has learning disabilities because of his inability to focus in school or on any given project or task. Oftentimes these exhibited behaviors and traits are merely a direct effect of inadequate sleep.
With appropriate changes to the child’s routine, consistency and a bit of patience you can make significant, long-term changes in your child's sleep habits, in turn positively affecting his and the entire family’s overall state of being.
If you are worried that your little one isn’t getting enough sleep or if you have specific sleep related questions, reach out and send me a message or book a free discovery call so that I can answer all of your sleep questions.