It is widely accepted that sleep and regular sleep patterns are linked to our good health; it is particularly apparent when we observe our children’s moods, behaviour and general demeanour. As we observe their sleep patterns, hyper-activity throughout the day is very often linked to the amount of sleep children enjoy or the patterns of sleep.
As adults we can apply much of what we observe through our children to our own lives, if we are stressed or anxious this will manifest itself in our sleep patterns and our overall sense of well-being.
For some of us we may feel that sleep wastes an enormous amount of time and when we think about it, it is around a 1/3 of our life, more when we were infants and in our old age. Sleep is in fact a time that our bodies work through what we have encountered through the day strengthening our skill levels and memories, in fact we could consider the time we spend sleeping as a period of consolidation.
Dr Rapoport (associate professor at NYU Langone Medical Centre) observed that sleep facilitates learning; take for example learning a language, musical instrument or a sports move the results will be better after a restorative night’s sleep.
So what are healthy sleep patterns? Our health, overall well-being and brain function generally all thrive on routine as boring as it may seem there is a price to pay for late nights, shift work and a chaotic lifestyle, if this is a description of your life you will very often pass it onto the rest of the family including young children.
Healthy sleep patterns involve regular bedtimes with a reasonable time period between meals and going to bed. The amount of sleep you need may vary, but somewhere between 7-9 hours is a good rule of thumb.