Children’s sleep What is sleep? How much do children need? Dr Andrew Mayers

2 Children’s sleep  Overview  What is sleep?  How common are sleep problems in children?  What is normal sleep for children?

3 An overview of normal sleep  What is normal sleep?  Average adult sleep 6½ - 8 hours each night  Children very different and age-specific  As we will see soon  But we also need to understand sleep structure

4 Sleep stages  Sleep is divided in to stages  Apply to adults and children  But proportion in those stages differs  How do we know?  Scientists have used sleep electroencephalography (EEG)  Sleep EEG measures miniscule electrical activity  Small electrodes placed on head  Sensitive recording equipment determines output  Sleep EEG sometimes used in children  To detect more troublesome sleep problems

5 Sleep EEG

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7  Examples of ‘output’ in adults

8 Normal sleep  Sleep EEG stages  Stage 1 – light sleep  Mixed frequency, low amplitude waves  Similar to alert wakefulness  Stage 2 – getting deeper…  Sleep spindles  Rapid bursts of high amplitude activity  Stage 3 – deeper sleep  Higher amplitude waves but lower frequency  Stage 4 – deepest sleep  Lowest frequency, highest amplitude  Stages 3 & 4 often grouped as slow-wave sleep (SWS)

9 Normal sleep  Rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep  Periods of intense brain activity  Frequent and intense bursts of eye movement  But with lack of muscle tone elsewhere  Appears after 1 st cycle in adults  First REM period usually occurs after minutes  Very different in children

10 REM sleep vs. SWS  SWS associated with tissue repair and growth  SWS probably associated physical restoration  REM sleep often seen as psychological ‘filing system’  May be when brain processes what we have learned  Might explain why children spend longer in REM sleep  REM sleep also associated with dreaming

11 How much sleep?  Recommended:  Infants (pre-school): 14 hours  Primary school children (4-12): 9-11 hours  Adolescents (13+): 8 hours

12 Age differences in sleep

13 Age differences in sleep

14 Age differences in sleep

15 Sleep problems in children?  Sleep problems common in children  Problems relate to two factors  Sleep timing  Sleep arousal   problems for child and the family  What sleep problems have you experienced with your child/children?