If you know someone with dementia, you may notice that they tend to sleep a lot. People with dementia, especially those who are in their later stages of dementia spend a lot of time sleeping. Sometimes this can be a point of concern for caregivers and family members. Continue reading to learn more about why your family member might be sleeping so much.
Sleep is a vital component of our overall health, especially for teenagers who are undergoing rapid physical, mental, and emotional changes. Yet, many teens grapple with sleep issues due to various factors, one of which is the sleep environment. Creating a conducive sleep environment can significantly enhance the quality of sleep. Here's a deep dive into the basics every teenager should know.
Do you ever visit your elderly grandparents, aunt or uncle, or even parent, and wonder why they're sleeping so much? If you work around older individuals in any capacity, you may realize that sleeping a lot is more common than not. As individuals get older, they are more likely to spend more of their days sleeping. The aging process can be pretty brutal on the body and can easily fatigue one out. Also, elderly individuals experience a decline in their quality of night time sleep. This increases their amount of excessive daytime sleepiness, encouraging them to take more naps during the day to make up that sleep that they're losing. Sometimes they can't really get comfortable because of their aches and pains that they experience. They may have to get up and go to the restroom multiple times because that is also just another part of aging. There are just some of the reasons that elderly individuals struggle to get sleep, therefore they make up what they're missing during the day. This means that they are taking multiple naps, doze off as soon as they sit down, or going to bed really early.
As an onlooker you may be worried if this is too much sleeping. However, if you're elderly loved one seems to be sleeping more during the day, it may or may not be cause for concern. A visit to the doctor may help you uncover some sort of underlying health problem that makes them extra tired. Continue reading learning some common issues that seniors may face that causes them to sleep all day.
Trying to get your baby to sleep at night can be a challenge without factoring feedings into the mix. However, when your baby's feeding schedule is the main problem of constant nighttime awakenings, what do you do about it? Whenever your baby feeds constantly at night, but not that much during the day, what are you supposed to do about that? Continue reading to find some suggestions that may help answer these questions.
Did you know that your menstrual cycle can affect your child's sleep? If not, you would not be alone in that category. Many individuals do not think about the fact that the menstrual cycle and their babies are potentially linked. However, they are, especially if you are breastfeeding. Continue reading to learn more about how your menstrual cycle can affect your baby's sleep and what you can do to negate the impact.
The teenage years are a time of profound growth, exploration, and transformation, both physically and mentally. As adolescents navigate the challenges and opportunities of this pivotal stage, sleep plays a crucial role in their overall well-being, academic performance, and emotional health. However, negotiating sleep with a teenager can often feel like navigating uncharted territory, filled with late nights, varying sleep schedules, and evolving preferences. In this blog post, we'll explore practical strategies and tips for negotiating sleep with a teenager, fostering healthy habits, and promoting restful nights for the entire family.
Sleep training is the process of helping your child learn to fall asleep in their bed on their own. It seems like it's something that lasts forever and then just stops because there's no clear answer on when you're done. For some, the point is obvious when they no longer need to sleep train. For others, however, sleep training tends to drag on a little bit longer. Success in sleep training is on a continuum, meaning that more than likely you are not going to ever be done. So what someone else may consider successful for them will not necessarily work for you and your family.
For example, some parents may think that sleep training involves allowing their baby to fuss for a few minutes and then they drift off to sleep for 11:50 hours straight. For other parents, they may not have things go as smoothly. It might take two to three weeks of using a no crying training before they have a child who can sleep throughout the night. Parents may even use a cry it out method, and then two to three nights later they have a child who sleeps through the night.
Even with all these categories, there are still families who do not fall into any of them. They struggle on and off for a long time. Perhaps they find something that works, but then it stops working after a short while and you have to switch to something else. There seems to be this path of consistently trying, and you may feel like you never get the chance to stop sleep training. This can be extremely frustrating, and even unsettling as you may wonder if you're doing something wrong or if there's something wrong with your child.
No need to worry, sleep training can look very different for each child. Continue reading to learn more about the signs that may appear when you are done sleep training. Now of course these signs are not hard and fast, so make sure to sort of apply these rules generally to your child.
Have you ever noticed that there are certain parts of the day where you are feeling extremely alert, and then there are other parts of the day where you can barely keep your eyes open? This is because of two body systems: sleep/wake homeostasis and your circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm serves as your internal body clock and tells your body when it is night and day. These two systems can control your sleep drive, or your body's need to sleep at any given time. Continue reading to learn more about your sleep drive and how it interacts with your body clock so that way you know how to better manage your sleepiness.
Many parents assume that children absolutely need night lights for their rooms. A well placed night light can actually reduce the amount of fumbling that is caused during midnight feedings and changings. However, is a night light distracting to the baby? Is one really necessary in the room? Whenever we talk about environmental necessities for good sleep and adults, we always say that the room needs to be absolutely dark. A night light defeats the purpose of having a super dark room. Therefore you may be questioning what kind of night light you need for your baby, and how you should appropriately place it in the room so that way it does not disrupt your baby's sleep. Therefore, we invite you to continue reading to learn some good dos and don'ts for helping your baby get a good night's sleep with a night light.
If you've ever had to go for a polysomnography, they have probably hooked your head up to a bunch of wires. These wires are there to measure brain activity while you are sleeping. The official term for what this test is is an EEG, or an electroencephalogram. The EEG will provide a recording of electrical activity in your brain while you are awake and sleeping. It involves having small electrodes placed around your head which are attached to your scalp using a paste. You may also be asked to breathe deeply or look into a flashlight at some point during the recording. This, also known as activation technique. The test can normally take up to two hours if that's the only thing that you're doing.
People normally get EEG that they struggle with electrical activity, like seizures. EEG's are also useful for determining what stage of sleep people are in. As part of the test, you may also be video recorded to help diagnose your condition. You will be asked to sign the consent form at the beginning of the test to allow for recording of your brain activity and interpretation of the results. Continue reading to learn more about a sleep EEG, who should get one, and what it is like.