As a remedial educator and counsellor, I have opportunities to gain an insight into the problems faced by both parents and students. The main grievance parents have is that their child lacks concentration, is distracted most of the time, and cannot attend to academic issues. An amazing number of students are sent to me by school teachers for being disruptive, inattentive and sleepy in class. The students confess to me that they have trouble falling asleep. When I probe a little, they often sheepishly say that they do not like to get up in the morning! Waking up in the morning makes them irritable and that leads to a bad mood throughout the day.
Teachers are routinely observing excessive daytime sleepiness not only in pre-primary but also in most school-going children. A study has attributed this to the fact that children are being burdened with too much school work and at the same time exposed to cell phones, television, video games, facebook, twitter and internet surfing. There is a major connection between time spent in front of the screen and sleep disorders. Children who watch a lot of television, especially at bedtime, have trouble falling asleep. Watching TV can be relaxing for adults but stimulates young people. Similarly, spending long hours surfing the net can impact the quality and amount of a young person’s sleep. All this leads to disturbance of the sleep-wake cycle.
Experts say that young people are exposed to different levels of stimulation. They are so charged by the time they go to bed that they have difficulty falling asleep. It is important to understand that children, especially teenagers, fight sleepiness by increasing their activities. Sleepy young adults are unable to concentrate on school work and also become irritable and possibly aggressive.
According to Paediatric Neurology, recent research has verified that chronic poor sleep results in daytime tiredness and difficulty with sustained attention. Students with poor sleep have a low threshold of tolerance. They can easily get frustrated and have difficulty managing impulses. Unfortunately, these are also symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It is sad but true that many children are mislabelled with attention disorders when the real problem is chronic or partial sleep deprivation.
We need to understand that the last hour of the day is most important because while we sleep our subconscious mind works to process the information that our brain has received just before we went to bed. Watching graphic images of crying, violence, murder and suspense thrillers just before sleeping will make our subconscious mind process these disturbing images all night long! Experts say the best thing to do is to find a quiet corner and write down what you need to do. If you finish your day this way, you will find that you often wake up with new ideas and insights that your subconscious mind has discovered while you are sleeping.
To ensure a young person’s growth to his full potential, he must have eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. Sleep deprivation has serious consequences.
We all want to do more and cut back on our sleep to do so. But remember sleepiness carries a big price tag. It’s time to take heed and change.
rajfarida@gmail.com
(The author is a remedial educator)
Common signs of sleep deprivation
· Frequent waking during the night.
· Taking a long time to fall asleep.
· Daytime sleepiness.
· Grinding or clenching of one’s teeth.
· Hyperactivity.
· Moodiness or low frustration tolerance.
· Difficulty getting up in the morning.
· Difficulty getting up in the morning.
