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Mandy Gurney, Children's Sleep Expert
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Former Director of the Sleep Clinic at the NHS St Charles hospital in London and Director of Millpond Sleep clinic. She also works as an NHS Sleep educator to health professionals across the UK.
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Child sleep

Sleep & obesity

Good quality, and sufficient sleep is vital for child and their long-term physical and mental health.
In Short
Scientists are beginning to understand how the hormones associated with sleep and hunger are related and have found that sleep-deprived children are more likely to become obese than those children regularly getting a good nights sleep.

Alongside this research, recent experiments in Israel have also reported that the amount of sleep a child gets also affects their IQ.

Sleep, obesity and IQ

If your child or baby is sleep deprived, there is a higher change they will end up overweight or obese – and have a lower IQ. Research shows that tired children overeat to compensate, and can’t focus or concentrate. These are more good reasons to aim to make sure your child is getting sufficient good quality sleep.

Babies and children need to wind down for two hours before bedtime with low lights and no screen to help promote the sleep hormone melatonin and reduce the stress hormone cortisol (which prevents sleep).

To help your baby or child to sleep better follow our 5 easy steps

Step 1 Cortisol levels increase and melatonin levels reduce if blue light (in particular) entering your baby or child’s eyes. So stop TV, computer or devices two hours before bedtime. This will reduce cortisol and promote melatonin production – the sleep hormone.

Step 2 If your baby or child is waking early in the morning don’t try to combat this by putting them to bed later. This means your baby or child will just be more tired, miss a sleep cycle and her cortisol levels will actually increase. Instead, start your baby or child’s bedtime routine earlier to lower the levels of cortisol and help prolong sleep in the early hours of the morning. Even if your baby or child doesn’t sleep immediately it can still help to have them relaxing in the dark, maybe listen to you sing a lullaby.

Step 3 Try to reduce your baby or child’s stress levels before bed, avoid exciting stories or loud bath time games. Instead, choose calm and quiet. This helps to reduce cortisol levels.

Step 4 Melatonin, the sleep hormone is increased by our bodies getting cooler (like they did at night when the sun went down in our prehistory). So a quick warm bath of 5 minutes and then into a cool room of about 18 degrees will help your baby or child to produce melatonin and feel sleepy and sleep better through the night.

Step 5 Melatonin is increased by darkness, for the same reason as Rule 4. So dim the lights in your living space an hour before your baby or child goes go to bed. Your body will get the cue that night-time is approaching and it will soon be time to sleep.

References and further reading

Sadeh, Raviv & Gruber (2000) ‘Sleep patterns and sleep disruptions in school-age children.’ Developmental Psychology, Vol 36(3), May 2000, 291-301.

Cappuccio et al (2007) ‘Meta-Analysis of Short Sleep Duration and Obesity in Children and Adults’ Sleep, Vol. 31, No. 5, 2008.

Note
Sleep Training NHS staff since 2007

If you or your colleagues want to know more about children’s sleep and how you can help the families you are working with, Millpond Sleep Clinic run one-day Sleep Workshops aimed at health care professionals.

These highly engaging sessions are based on proven research and years of experience and are suitable for all staff working directly with the families of babies through to school aged children.

The workshop is fully certified and approved by The CPD Certification Service.

If you would like to find out more about the sleep workshops please contact Millpond direct on:

Tel: 020 8444 0040

Or website: http://millpondsleepclinic.com/accredited-sleep-workshops/

DISCLAIMER
This article is for information only and should not be used for the diagnosis or treatment of medical conditions. Essential Parent has used all reasonable care in compiling the information from leading experts and institutions but makes no warranty as to its accuracy. Consult a doctor or other health care professional for diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions. For details click here.