Sleep Like a Baby

 

In the past parents regularly put their babies outside in their prams to give them a good dose of fresh air each day. But today many parents worry about babies being too hot or too cold and so keep them indoors more often. And with the increase of cars and indoor shopping centres, children are spending less and less time outside.

 

There is however a big incentive for parents to take their children out for fresh air each day and that’s a good night’s sleep! Recent research has shown that babies who are exposed to natural daylight during the afternoon will sleep longer at night time. The study which was published in the Journal of Sleep Research suggested that spending time outdoors in natural daylight helped babies to establish their circadian rhythm which is essential for setting the body clock, allowing babies to distinguish between day and night.

 

Interestingly, the time of day is important when heading outdoors with baby as experts have found that afternoon daylight in particular is most beneficial. During the study the sleeping habits of 56 babies were recorded and those who slept the longest at night time were found to have been exposed to twice as much light between midday and 4pm.

 

So if you’re a parent who would like to improve your baby’s sleep patterns, try to get out in the fresh air each day. Don’t worry about the weather – even on an overcast or rainy day, your baby will still get the benefits. Keep waterproofs and rain covers ready so that you can pop out whatever the conditions.

 

For more information about healthy sleep for all ages, visit: www.sleepcouncil.org.uk

 

Categories: babies, fresh air, natural daylight, nbsp, night, Night time, sleep, time

How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep, No Matter the Obstacles

A bad night’s sleep is one of the most common health concerns of modern life, but what can you do about it? Instead of reaching for your sleeping pills, try enhancing your night-time wellness with these top tips:

 

1. Dealing with noise: If noise is keeping you awake, David Neubauer, MD, associate director of the Johns Hopkins Sleep Disorders Centre, in Baltimore, recommends adding white noise. ‘Background noise is good for two reasons,’ he says. ‘It helps block outside noises, like road-repair workers and your neighbour’s stereo. Beyond that, psychologically, it’s soothing.’ Try anything that drones continuously, such as a fan or air conditioner. You can also get sound machines if you’d rather hear chirps, croaks, or rushing water.

 

If that sounds a little too dull for your liking, James B. Maas, PhD, a professor of psychology at Cornell University and a co-author of Power Sleep: The Revolutionary Program That Prepares Your Mind for Peak Performance, advises playing music or talk radio, as long as you use a device with a timer so that the noise shuts off within an hour or so and doesn’t wake you later, when you’re in a lighter phase of sleep. Other than that, good old-fashioned ear plugs are a great option, as they enable you to hear enough to have a conversation if need be, but the sound is muffled and unlikely to dampen your night-time wellbeing.

 

2. Dealing with light: If light keeps you awake, ‘Limiting your light exposure in the evening tends to transition you into sleep,’ asserts Helene Emsellem, MD, an associate clinical professor of neurology at George Washington University and the director of the Centre for Sleep and Wake Disorders, in Chevy Chase, Maryland. If you like to read in bed before you go to sleep, for example, don’t use a bright bedside lamp but, instead, encourage your brain’s shift to sleep by using a low-power book light. ‘I recommend the kind that clips onto books,’ says Emsellem.

 

During the night itself, make sure you’re not exposed to any niggly LED lights around the room. You may not realise it, but even the little light on your TV or alarm clock can be a big issue when you’re trying to fall asleep. Maas points out, ‘If you have a clock with an LED dial, you should turn it around so that the light, however dim, doesn’t get through your eyelids and interrupt sleep.’ This will also help you to stop checking the time every time you wake up, which will reduce the anxiety you feel about the sleep you’re not getting. Maas adds that sealing off the windows can rid your room of early-morning sun or streelights: ‘the best thing you can do is get darkening drapes or blackout shades.’

 

3. Dealing with Agitation: If you can’t seem to relax, a study published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, found that background music seems to do the trick. The researchers gave senior citizen calming music to listen to for 45 minutes before bedtime, and these participants ended up having a longer and more deep sleep than those who didn’t hear the music. The study used harp music by Georgia Kelly, quiet jazz by Paul Desmond, and synthesized sounds by Steven Halpern, but you should try whatever music you find soothing and relaxing.

 

There’s also the classic option of warm drinks, such as chamomile tea and hot milk. Emsellem explains, ‘Some teas have mild soporific effects. When you warm milk, it releases tryptophan [which is an amino acid your body uses to make sleep-promoting neurotransmitter serotonin]. But over time the body can develop an immunity to tryptophan, and its sleep-promoting properties dissipate.’ Still, when warm milk stops working there’s always caffeine-free herbal tea, or hot water with lemon and honey.

Categories: Light, music, nbsp, Night time, noise, sleep, sleep promoting, time, warm milk

Night-Time Snacking: Is Your Internal Body Clock to Blame?

Night-time eating may not seem like a major health concern, but it’s one that a lot of people struggle with. According to registered dietician Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, author of S.A.S.S! Yourself Slim: Conquer Cravings, Drop Pounds and Lose Inches, ‘Over the years, many of my clients on quests to eat healthier and lose weight have told me, “I do great all day, but at night, everything just seems to fall apart.” Sometimes this happens because evening hours are less busy and structured, or because we create patterns that once formed, are difficult to break, like nibbling while cooking, or always eating a sweet treat after dinner.’

However, a new study, published in the journal Obesity, has suggested that craving cookies after dark is physiologically programmed into your body. The researchers blame your circadian system – or internal clock – for tampering with your wellness, as it prompts you to reach for sweet, starchy, and salty foods in the evenings, especially around 8:00 pm. There may be an evolutionary element involved here, with your ancestors developing this built-in need to feed in order to store fat for survival when food was scarce. However, today you’re not going out of your cave and throwing a spear at a mammoth; you have everything you need at your local supermarket, and so your night-time cravings can take a hefty toll on your health and your waistline. So, how do you stop yourself going overboard in the evening?

1. Use your head: ‘For many people, eating in general, regardless of what time, tends to be mindless,’ Sass notes. ‘But when you start thinking about food as fuel for activity, it can help bring the importance of quality and balance into focus. In a nutshell, the fate of a meal or snack depends on what’s going in your body during your post-noshing hours. Eating the bulk of your food in the evening, when your activity level is low, results in winding up with far more fuel than you body needs, and the surplus gets sent straight to your fat cells.’ While you sleep, your body does the bulk of its maintenance, healing, and repair work, so processed junk food isn’t what you need to build muscle tissue, maintain a healthy immune system, or keep your skin looking radiant.

2. Break the pattern: Making a conscious effort to break the pattern of routine night-time eating can help, even if you just change the order in which you perform your evening activities. Sass explains, ‘Simply breaking the connections between certain activities and eating can help your brain let go of the notion that it doesn’t feel “right” not to follow through. Setting up new routines may seem forced or awkward at first, but before long, the healthier pattern will become your new normal.’

3. Pre-plan your meals: If you get home after a long day and there are no healthy options ready and waiting for you, you’re more likely to make a meal out of less than optimal snacks, or reach for comfort foods. Sass advises, ‘If you don’t feel like being creative, keep the ingredients for a few quick go-to meals on hand, so you can whip them up in a jiffy. One of my favourite quickies is a simple lentil salad. I always keep my fridge stocked with organic greens, and steamed vacuum-sealed lentils (you can find these in the produce section). I simply toss the greens with balsamic vinegar, add a scoop of lentils, sprinkle with sliced almonds, and pair with a serving of 100% whole grain crackers (or crush them on top).’

 

Categories: body, circadian rhythm, eating, night, Night time, sass, Snacking, time, time eating

Could Your Child’s Environment Influence Nap Time?

Although you can blame your child’s genes for how long he or she sleeps at night, a good nap time depends on his or her environmental wellness. This is according to a new study in twins, published online in the journal Paediatrics, which found that genes may play a big role in babies’ and toddlers’ night time sleep wellness, while environment is key during nap time. This is based on data from nearly 1,000 twins, who were followed to the age of four. So, can you control how much sleep your little one gets at night, or is nap-time the only period you have power over?

 

According to study leader Evelyne Touchette, of Laval University in Quebec, Canada, you ‘should not give up on trying to correct inadequate sleep duration or bad sleep habits early in childhood.’ This is because environment was still found influence babies’ and toddlers’ night-time sleep, even seemingly overshadowing genes by the age of 18 months. Touchette noted that the reasons for the study results remain unclear, but she surmised that environment may take over genes at 18 months because the maturation of the brain may be key in infants’ ability to sleep for longer stretches at night. However, after this point your child’s genes take charge of their wellbeing once more, and for this there is clear explanation, Touchette said.

 

Hawley Montgomery-Downs, an associate professor of psychology at West Virginia University in Morgantown who was not involved in the study, commented that it’s impossible to break down children’s sleep into “nature or nurture” questions, noting, ‘Everything is a complex interaction between genes and environment.’ She added, ‘We’ve still got a lot to learn about children’s sleep.’ Still, what can you, as a parent for whom bedtime is anything but peaceful, take away from this study?

 

It’s often a battle to get your child to settle down and fall asleep, especially when you have so many questions about getting it right. How much sleep does your child need? Is your child waking up too often in the night or is that normal? Does your child nap enough, too much or too little? Unfortunately, Montgomery-Downs said that there are no clear-cut answers, but experts do have some general advice, based on what’s typical for young children. The National Sleep Foundation notes that babies from the age of three to 11 months tend to sleep for nine to 12 hours a night, albeit not straight through. These infants also take an average of one to four naps a day, and this number decreases as they approach a year. According to the Foundation, toddlers have an average of 12 to 14 hours of sleep over 24 hours, with most taking at least one daytime nap.

 

But what do those stats mean to you as a parent? Should you be worried if your child is a stubborn napper, or sleeps less than other kids their age? ‘Just because most kids average a certain amount of sleep doesn’t mean that’s the “normal” amount,’ Montgomery-Downs explained. ‘We know that with adults, there’s a lot of individual variation in how much sleep a person needs.’ And so the same might be said of your kids, although the research isn’t there to know for sure. However, Touchette advised against feeding your child each time they wake, as her team discovered that this make five-month-old’s less likely to sleep for six straight hours at night. She added that staying with your child until he falls asleep and picking him up each time he fusses are not good ideas, either, but Montgomery-Downs recommended setting a routine, including a consistent bedtime and a soothing activity such as reading a story.

Categories: Child, Child Sleep, montgomery downs, nap time, Naps, night, Night time, Research, sleep, time, time sleep, toddlers night

How to Deal With the Difficult Problem of Waking at Night

Nocturia is one of the most unsettling health concerns experienced by men and women as they get older. Nocturia means waking in the night to go to the toilet. As you get older, the wellness and wellbeing of your bladder deteriorates, and your body becomes less able to hold fluids for a long period of time. This is due to a decline in antidiuretic hormones within the human body. Even drinking the same amount as you did before, you may find that you are waking more often to go to the loo.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, around 65 percent of older people suffer from sleep deprivation as a result of having to wake up frequently in the night to go to the bathroom. Ironically, aging also makes it more difficult to fall asleep, so waking up in the night is doubly problematic. The best solution to the problem is, therefore, to attempt to not wake up in the night at all.

The best way to help achieve this is to not drink any liquids for around three hours before you go to bed. You should also cut down on tea and coffee, both of which irritate the bladder and make you feel like you need to go to the toilet more often. Bear in mind that some foods contain a high liquid content, too, such as fruits and soups, so it is best to avoid these in the evenings. You should also consider not eating for three hours before bed, as this can lead to digestive problems such as heartburn and reflux.

You can also get a prescription of anti-diuretic from your doctor, which may help cut down on night time urination. It is worth bearing in mind, though, that there are other problems which may be causing night time urination. In men, this may be a sign of inflammation of the prostate or a tumour in the prostate, so it is worth going in for a prostate exam if you are suffering from this. Going to the toilet frequently can also signal a urinary issue in women, such as an infection.

Categories: nbsp, night, Night time, nocturia, time, time urination, toilet, waking

Is Your Child Ready for Night Time Potty Training?

According to Potty Training Concepts, ‘Achieving night time potty control is not simply a learned skill, but rather a physiological development and the control is largely involuntary.’ So how do you know if your child is ready for night time potty training, and how do you help her achieve that family wellness milestone?

1. Make sure she’s ready – Is it easy for her to stay dry throughout the day, and is she waking up with a dry nappy more often than not? This mean your child is probably ready to start night time potty training. This often comes down to your child’s age, because, over time, the body develops the ability to hold urine for long periods of time plus the nerve signal from the bladder to the brain to wake  up to pee. Night time control occurs in 66% of kids under three years old, and almost 75% have it under the age of four years.

2. Prepare the area – While your kid may have the strongest bladder of all time, she is still going to have an accident. This is a learning process, but that doesn’t mean that your child’s mattress has to suffer. Protect the mattress with a waterproof mattress pad and have dry underwear and pyjamas on hand for a fast change if (or when) she wets the bed.

3. Prepare your child – Logic dictates that what goes in must come out, so even your child’s odds of night time success by limiting her fluid intake a few hours before bedtime. This may mean no drink after dinner time and only one small sip of water before bed, but what ever you decide, make sure your child uses the toilet right before bedtime.

4. Wake her up – This is an old trick but it has lasted for a reason! Each night before you go to bed, wake your child up and take her to the toilet. This gives your child a few more hours of space in her bladder, allowing her to empty anything that had been filtered in the few hours between her bedtime and 11 PM. Chances are that your child will still be half-asleep, so you might have to prop her up, but she’ll have no problem getting right back into bed.

5. Celebrate – While accidents are going to happen, and you shouldn’t reprimand your child for a natural bodily occurrence, you might want to consider giving small treats for each morning she wakes up dry. She may respond well!

Categories: Night time, potty training, prepare