Many Americans will lose an hour of sleep on March 14, the first day of daylight-saving time, when clocks are set ahead one hour at 2 a.m. local standard time-making it harder to wake up, causing difficulty in staying alert and increasing the chance of sleepy-driving car crashes. Ronald D. Chervin, M.D., says Americans can prepare for the daylight-saving time switch...
Booths # 23-25 at the Annual Dialysis Conference -- NxStage Medical, Inc...
The 2010 Sleep in America poll released by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) reveals significant differences in the sleep habits and attitudes of Asians, Blacks/African-Americans, Hispanics and Whites. It is the first poll to examine sleep among these four ethnic groups...
Being parents is a hard enough job without having sleep deprivation. Most parents find that they have to survive on less sleep. The glorious day when baby sleeps right through the night can never come too soon. Babies who nap through the day and then cry at night wreak havoc with parent’s sleeping patterns. There are strategies to try to cope with babies and sleeping habits.
If you are able to, it’s a good idea to sleep when the baby does, this may be impossible, since babies sleep for most of the day, if you are lucky. Unplug the phone, put a do not disturb sign on the door and snooze along with junior. At nighttime, a warm bath can help to make baby sleepy, so time bath time just before putting baby down. Babies and sleeping routines are important, so bedtime needs to be about the same time every night, but don’t be a slave to it.
Sometimes, baby wakes up crying and for no apparent reason. They are dry, just been fed and you can’t think what could be wrong. At other times, the reason may be that they are teething or have colic. If you have exhausted all possibilities, they may be satisfied with a hug. Unfortunately, babies and sleeping don’t always go together.
Babies need a quite environment and not be cold or too warm. There are things that may calm them if they are anxious, such as a lullaby or a mobile above the cot. Some parents have found that placing baby next to a tumble drier soothes them into sleep! As a last resort in solving the babies and sleeping problem, some parents take baby out for a car ride. Baby falls asleep and then is carried gingerly to bed. Some babies will not fall asleep in their cot at any time and parents have to wait for them to nod off wherever they happen to be and than carry them to bed.
Teething and illnesses make the problem worse. Make sure that you have something from the doctor to rub on to sore gums when those teeth start to push through. Colic often interrupts babies and sleeping through. There are medicines to give for this too. If you are despairing parents with a wakeful child, just remember that it won’t always be like this. The first six months will fly by, albeit in a sleepless haze. Soon, they’ll be teenagers and you’ll be losing sleep because they haven’t come home yet!
If you baby is not napping well during her first few months of life, you may want to try to cut back on the time she is awake by 15 minute increments. If she is getting overstimulated, then she will fight sleep and be difficult to get to nap. The way to prevent this is to watch her ’sleepy” cues to make sure that you put her down when she is beginning to get sleepy.
Some parents believe that letting their child cry will harm him or her. Fifteen or twenty minutes of crying will not harm your child physically or mentally. Babies will learn to self-soothe and fall asleep by themselves, but only if you let her. It is very important that babies learn to fall asleep by themselves so that they can self-soothe if they awake in the middle of the night. Otherwise, you may have a child that will not sleep through the night for years.
Regular sleep patterns are intermeshed with regular eating patterns, so let us look at the stages of a baby’s life:
* Newborn: Your newborn will sleep anywhere from 16 to 20 hours a day, including the naps that he takes between feedings. When your baby has been fed, let him stay awake for a short while and then put him down before he becomes overstimulated.
* Two months: At two months and older, your child should be allowed to try to self-soothe during their naptimes and bedtime. Crying is normal when you put your baby down, but it is okay. If he cries for longer than 10-15 minutes, then go in and check on him. Don’t get him up, but pat his bottom or lightly rub his back until he calms down.
* 3-6 months: At around 3-6 months, your baby will stop taking one of his naps. Usually it is the third nap or late afternoon nap that they do not need as much. He may be a little fussy and may want to take a little nap, but you need to try to keep him up if you want him to go to bed at a decent time and sleep soundly through the night.
* 16+ months: When your child is between 16-20 months, they usually quit taking the morning nap in favor of a longer nap in the afternoons. Babies this age usually sleep between 10-12 hours a night and take a 2-3 hour afternoon nap.
Ground Rules about Naps 1. You decide when the nap starts and ends, not the baby. 2. When your baby is older than 4 months old, she will wake up crying if she hasn’t slept enough. She might have a dirty diaper, be in a position that is not comfortable, or cold/hot. Fix the problem and encourage her to go back to sleep. Babies that have enough rest wake up happy, talking, and in a good mood.
Children with insomnia and shorter sleep duration had impaired modulation of heart rhythm during sleep, Pennsylvania researchers reported at the American Heart Association's 50th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention. In a study of young children, researchers showed that insomnia symptoms were consistently associated with impaired heart variability measures...
Not getting enough sleep does more damage than just leaving you with puffy eyes. It can cause fat to accumulate around your organs - more dangerous, researchers say, than those pesky love handles and jiggly thighs...
If you aren't getting a good, consistent and regular night's sleep, a new study suggests it could reduce your ability to handle oxidative stress, cause impacts to your health, increase motor and neurological deterioration, speed aging and ultimately cut short your life. That is, if your "biological clock" genes work the same way as those of a fruit fly. And they probably do...
With pressure from the tough economy to bring in extra dollars, more people are sacrificing sleep to work night shifts or two jobs in order to make ends meet, says Raman Malhotra, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at Saint Louis University and director of the SLU Sleep Disorders Center...