Palejowe ABC - SEN

Sleep affects our daytime functioning, language skills, ability to focus attention, reading comprehension, memory, and even digestion, hunger sensation or immune system function. When we don't get enough sleep, all of the above are disrupted. What's more, sleep is also important for assimilating knowledge and learning new things. A decent nap or a night's sleep has a positive effect on the consolidation of memories, which means that messages consolidate better in our heads and are easier to access.

In everyone's life - from infancy to old age - there are times, days or weeks when sleep is unlikely, and fatigue makes us capable of falling asleep in any place or position. Sometimes a simple runny nose or headache is enough to disrupt sleep. Chronic sleeplessness is also something characteristic of parents of young children or those kids who are hospitalized. Teenagers, on the other hand, have a shifted sleep-wake rhythm and are unable to fall asleep at 10 pm in order to wake up at 6 am without any problems. So they go to bed well after midnight, and have to get up at the crack of dawn anyway, which can result in constant fatigue and difficulty concentrating attention, changes in appetite and mood disorders (of course, the factors for such changes can be many, but sleep plays a big role).

In the interest of a better night's sleep, it's worth looking at where we sleep. Ideally, we'd like to get rid of distractions such as the TV, computer or smartphone and leave them outside the door. Lying next to electronics strongly tempts us to use them, and staring at a screen that emits blue light can make it difficult for us to fall asleep (because the secretion of sleep-inducing melatonin is disrupted). The sleeping room should be quiet and dark.

Both children and adults have difficulty falling asleep if they are stressed about the next day. The pressure to fall asleep quickly then makes the body constantly agitated instead of calming down and sinking into sleep. Therefore, it is better at such moments to occupy oneself with something else - read a book, solve puzzles, crossword puzzles or color a coloring book - rather than trying hard to fall asleep. Relaxation techniques involving the gradual tensing and relaxing of individual muscles can also be helpful (such guided relaxations and meditations are available, for example, on YouTube - so just turn it on, listen to the speaker(s) and relax).

Some parents worry that their children's sleep has deteriorated after surgery. This can happen after major procedures and general anesthesia. The effect is fortunately transient and it is worth being patient.

However, during this time, in addition to difficulty falling asleep and frequent awakenings, night terrors can occur. Night terrors are something different from nightmares. A child who dreams a nightmare often wakes up and seeks reassurance from a parent. The next day, he is able to recreate the bad dream and talk about it. In contrast, children who experience night terrors the next day remember nothing and are unable to tell what happened. At night, they start screaming and/or crying very loudly. Parents are unable to calm such a child, as well as feel that there is no contact with the child despite the open eyes.

The sight of a child experiencing night terrors can be awe-inspiring, and certainly parents will not forget the experience. The child, despite having his eyes open (though he may as well have them closed), continues to sleep. Hence, it is impossible to wake him up. In such a case, the best thing to do is to keep the child safe so that it doesn't hit anything and hurt itself, and wait out this anxiety attack without waking the child and without turning on the lights. Night terrors are quite common in children. They also most often pass spontaneously, although in any case, when something worries parents, it is worth seeing a doctor and performing diagnostics to rule out, for example, iron deficiencies, which can increase the risk of night terrors.

Sources of knowledge and inspiration that led to this article:

• Su, X., & Wang, D.-X. (2017). Improve postoperative sleep. Current Opinion in Anaesthesiology
• Rampes S. et.al (2020) Postoperative sleep disorders and their potential impacts on surgical outcomes, The Journal of Biomedical Research