1. Sleep in Children and Adolescents
Kristina Azubalyte - Educational Psychology Assistant
Ailsa Darling - Trainee Educational Psychologist
September 2018

2. Overview What is sleep and why do we need it?
How is sleep different between children and adults?
Adolescent sleep
Effects on psychological, emotional and physical wellbeing
When sleep goes wrong
What affects quality of sleep?
How to get a good night’s sleep?

3. What is sleep? Sleep is: Lack of sleep affects our: Natural behaviour
Reversible state of reduced awareness
Dynamic
Lack of sleep affects our:
Emotional wellbeing
Physical health
Productivity

4. How much sleep do we actually need?

5. Hypnogram

6. What is so important about sleep?
While our bodies are at rest, our brains continue working at:
Memory consolidation
Vocabulary retention
Processing of learning related to
pronunciation of words
Retention of auditory memories
Research has linked lack of sleep to:
Lower marks achieved
Lower attention rates
Tendency to remember more negative than positive events

7. Pronunciation Vocabulary retention Auditory memories
Memory consolidation
Auditory memories
Pronunciation
Vocabulary retention

8. Sleep and body
Our bodies release a cocktail of hormones during sleep. One of the most important ones is the growth hormone. It is crucial for a number of functions occurring in human body.
Allowing these processes to take place helps us avoid such conditions as obesity, diabetes and heart conditions.

9. Dreams and creativity
Dreams may serve as a source for creative work. Many musicians, writers, artists and scientists have been inspired by their dreams.

10. Sleep and emotional wellbeing
Sleep helps us to deal with:
Crisis
Stress
Anxiety
Cortisol – is also known as ‘stress’ hormone due to its role in the fight or flight response.
Melatonin – sleep hormone.
During sleep cortisol drops to its lowest levels. This allows the brain to process information and recover from high levels of stress.
Sleep deprivation can increase levels of cortisol.
Chronic stress is closely related to lack of sleep.

11. Circadian rhythm Our body clock is affected by external
factors which in turn affect our internal
rhythm. These external cues are called
zeitgebers:
Light
Temperature
Meal times
Social activities
Light receptors are especially sensitive
and give brain information about the length of day and night. This information informs the brain when to start or stop the production of melatonin and cortisol.
During adolescence the body clock can shift approximately 2 hours later. This shift continues until early 20’s. This means that teenagers are more likely to be:
More active in the evening
Predisposed to go to bed later than younger siblings or parents.

12. Lack of sleep can lead to…
Impaired learning
Lower marks
Lower attention rates
A negative impact on learning
Impaired mood
Irritability
Depression
Behavioural problems
Obesity and heart problems at
older age
Poor impulse control
Disruption to the body clock can result in a jet lag effect.
Late bedtime
Cumulative sleep debt
Sleep late on weekends
Reinforces circadian delay
Difficulty initiating sleep
Sleep restricted during school week
Impaired daytime alertness
Afternoon napping
Vicious cycle of lack of sleep

13. What affects quality of sleep?

14. Technology in the bedroom

15. Sleep quality Staying up later to watch TV or play computer games
Late night chats and messaging with friends
Studying later in the evening, before going to bed
Continuous stimulation prevents us feeling sleepy
Blue light emitted by screens prevents production of melatonin

16. How to help your children sleep better?
During the day encourage them
to:
Have a shower in the morning to help
them wake up
Get out into natural light for at least
30 minutes per day
Play active games or exercise during
the day
Avoid too many sugary and caffeinated drinks
Avoid having a nap during the day
If a ‘power’ nap is needed, stick to a short minutes nap before 5PM.
Try not to have a lie-in at weekends. Try to keep the wake and sleep time at similar hours throughout the week.
Try to find ways of dealing with anxiety and worries before bedtime (talk to someone, write a diary or try relaxation techniques)

17. In the evening: Develop a good sleep routine, include
some relaxing activities e.g. reading,
listening to music, light stretching or a
warm bath (no later than 90 minutes
before bedtime)
Have dinner earlier in the evening and a
light snack later
Do any stimulating activities (exercise,
watching TV, playing computer games etc.) earlier in the evening.
Try to get any homework out of the way as early as possible
Switch off any blue light emitting devices at least 1 hour before bedtime or use red filter app if this is not possible
If they cannot fall asleep and toss and turn, it is better for them to get out of bed and do some low stimulation activity for about 20 minutes

18. The hour before bed
This is when our body starts to wind down and release melatonin
Switch off technology
Use subdued lighting
Read or listen to relaxing music
Use relaxation apps e.g. Headspace
Stick to the same bed time

19. The bedroom Keep the bedroom quiet, tidy, dark and cool.
Make sure the bed is comfortable.
Discourage spending time in bed doing other activities (e.g. reading, watching DVDs, playing computer games) as this stops us relating bed to relaxing and sleeping.
Do not use bright light. Some of the energy saving light bulbs use blue light.
Keep laptops, iPads, game consoles in a different room or pack them away before bedtime.
Avoid a very loud alarm or use a setting that gradually increases the volume.

20. What you can do to support good sleep habits ?
Try to
Provide information so your child can manage their sleep and make positive choices
Nurture good habits
Keeping a sleep diary for at least a week could help notice any strategies that work better and what is going wrong.
Give consistent messages about the importance of sleep and its importance to our wellbeing and role in memory consolidation
Change can only occur if the young person is willing to make changes

21. What’s already going well?
Barriers
What’s a challenge ?
Listen to the person, listen for the possibilities
Strengths
What’s already going well?
There’s always exceptions to the problem
Everyone has the necessary resources to make changes
Goals
Long and Short Term
Focusing on the future can enhance change
Small changes lead to bigger change ,
If it works do more of it if it doesn’t do something different
Change has to be manageable
Actions
Who, What, When
Everyone has their own way of solving problems
No sign up, no change

22. What’s already going well?
Barriers
What’s a challenge ?
Body clock has shifted forward an hour at this age
Really tired after school a need a nap
Only getting 6/7 hours sleep a night
Strengths
What’s already going well?
Having a shower in the morning
Getting out in natural light for 30mins a day
Doesn’t drink caffeinated drinks
Goals
Long and Short Term
To have a better bedtime routine
To get 7/8 hours sleep a night
Actions
Who, What, When
Have only ‘power naps’ keeping to minutes
Listen to an audiobook or a podcast with the lights off
Talk through any issues that may be causing stress before going to bed

23. Video Clip

24. Solution Oriented Questions
Acknowledge their perspective
Try not to suggest what they should be doing but support them to consider solutions
‘ What changes do you think you could make?’
‘ What is a manageable change for you?’
‘When do you find you are less tired’

25. Group discussion One thing that already works for your family
One thing you might try after today’s session

26. Any further Questions Ailsa.Darling@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk