Eleanor Jones (Clinical Psychologist Registrar) What are sleep terrors? Sleep terrors (also known as night terrors) are often confused with nightmares, but they are actually a different phenomenon. Sleep Terrors are a type of parasomnia, an unusual behaviour that accompanies sleep. Sleep terrors are a partial arousal parasomnia, meaning that the person experiencing the sleep terror shows signs of being …
When kids find it hard to sleep alone
Eleanor Jones (Clinical Psychologist Registrar) For some children, sleeping alone at night can be a scary prospect. This can often lead to parents finding themselves co-sleeping with their children or having children frequently jumping into the parent’s bed in the middle of the night. This may be the case for toddlers through to teenagers. Although we all need extra closeness …
Improving Sleep in Teens
Dr Jessica Tearne and Mr Paul Jeffery from Sleep Matters presented a seminar on teenage sleep to year 7 students and their parents at one of Perth’s high schools this week. It was a great opportunity to cover some interesting and important facts about sleep in adolescence. Getting good quality and quantity sleep can be tricky in adolescence. At the very age the …
Back to school sleep routine
Sleep routines for children can change a great deal over the long summer holidays. Later nights, sleeping in, more variability and sleep-wake schedules, more screen time, less focus on a pre-bed wind down routine are some of the common changes. While many kids and teens adjust easily to the school sleep routine, others may benefit from some structured adjustments to create a great routine around sleep. …
Improving sleep in children
Paul Jeffery from Sleep Matters presented a seminar to parents at Queensgate Medical Centre last month. He discussed aspects of childhood sleep and provided tips for improving sleep in little ones. Here is a summary of his talk. From the age of 3 up until the end of primary school its estimated that children spend around 40-50% of their lives asleep. Sleep is crucial …
Is it a myth that we need 8 hours sleep? How much sleep do I need? How much sleep does my child need?
Almost anything we read about sleep says we need 8 hours. Numerous studies have been published concerning the dangers of lack of sleep, to our general health and wellbeing. We now understand that sleep may play an important role in allowing to the brain to cleanse from toxins. So how much shut eye do we really need each night? New guidelines have been …