ECH130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Cortisol, Culture Of Asia, Parasomnia
29 May 2018
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Sleep in Early Childhood:
Terminology and Background –
• Much of the research on sleep is conducted within MEDICAL CONTEXT
• An unfortunate consequence is that understanding of advances in sleep
research tends not to be read outside of clinical/medical professions
Normal Sleep –
• Newborns require 16-18 hours of sleep per day – this reduces to 7-8 hours in
adult years
• The normal pattern of sleep during the infant and early years is:
o Reductions in overall sleep
o A progressive shift to more night time sleep
• Need to have good regulatory processes in place – wake up during the night
and go back to sleep
(N) REM (Rapid Eye Movement) –
• Two types of sleep, NREM and REM (N=Non)
• Dreaming occurs during REM sleep (e.g. dog and cat movements)
• Focus is often on quantity of sleep but quality of sleep is important
• If deprived of REM, drowsiness and even hallucinatory experiences can occur
Changing Patterns of Sleep –
• Data in Australia still being analysed, yet most studies indicate Australian
adults DO NOT get enough sleep, have technology in their rooms and engage
in problematic sleep behaviours (affects sleep patterns)
• Around half of adult Australians report feeling tired during their waking hours
→ indicates not enough sleep
• USA studies – research indicates duration of sleep has decreased overall
o For adults, during the last 40 years, the number of people achieving
less than 7 hours of sleep has gone from 15% to 39%
o Decrease in sleep for under year olds – decrease of 30-60 minutes
Reasons for Changes –
• Lifestyle changes (such as staying up later, easier to be awake longer)
• Technology in bedrooms (e.g. televisions, phones, laptops)
• Individualistic culture (less valuing of sleep)
Current concerns → one of the main concerns about reductions in sleep are the links
to OBESITY – less sleep = more overweight/obese
Aust & NZ infants and toddlers –
• When Australian and NZ parents of toddlers from birth-36 months were
surveyed, it was found that:
o 30.69% considered their child to have sleep problems
o By 5 months of age, most infants sleep through the night
o Parents generally had positive practices related to sleep
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Document Summary
Terminology and background : much of the research on sleep is conducted within medical context, an unfortunate consequence is that understanding of advances in sleep research tends not to be read outside of clinical/medical professions. If deprived of rem, drowsiness and even hallucinatory experiences can occur. Reasons for changes : lifestyle changes (such as staying up later, easier to be awake longer, technology in bedrooms (e. g. televisions, phones, laptops) Current concerns one of the main concerns about reductions in sleep are the links to obesity less sleep = more overweight/obese. It is good to get professional help from this often medication (short- term fix) or psychologist/sleep analysis. Self-regulation and soothing : numerous studies have found parental behaviours relating to infant soothing are related to sleep problems (patting back for infant to go to sleep this is not self-regulation for the child) Infants have less difficulties when: parents promote self-soothing and autonomous sleeping, parental absence at the time of sleep onset.
