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How sleep varies with age - Babies
Sarah-Louise Waters • December 4, 2020
From babies that sleep most of the day, toddlers that need an afternoon nap, teenagers that sleep like the dead and adults that rarely sleep at all, most of us are aware that the length, depth and quality of our sleep changes dramatically throughout our lives. This blog post is the first in a series aimed at giving you a deeper understanding into what is going on at each age and why, and is about how we sleep when we are first born.
Infants spend on average between 16 and 18 hours out of every 24 asleep. However, this is not in one solid block as it is for adults (also known as monophasic sleep), but in many short bouts that are interspersed throughout the 24 hour period (polyphasic sleep). As the child gets older, these bouts of sleep get fewer, longer and more stable due to the development of the circadian rhythm or internal body clock, at the age of four.
All human sleep consists of different components, which can be generally categorised as being either REM (commonly associated with dreaming) or non-REM (NREM). In each of these different types of sleep our bodies and brains are busy with different functions.
One important function of REM sleep is the laying down and building up of neural pathways, the majority of which takes place when we are first born. Newborn babies and young children therefore spend a much bigger proportion of their time asleep in REM than adults, especially older adults. In fact infants spend as much of 50% of their total time asleep in REM and can go directly into this mode of sleep without going through any NREM sleep at all. This is in stark contrast to their elders who have to pass through ever-increasing layers of light and deep NREM sleep beforehand and spend only about 10% of their total time asleep in this stage.
All of this explains why babies are able to fall asleep and fall into a deep level of sleep very quickly but do not sleep through the night. At this age, their sleep is much more controlled by their body’s need to feed, grow and develop than to rest and rejuvenate.
In the next post we will focus on sleep in toddlers and younger children.
Additional Reading
Sleep cycles
https://www.fromsoultosole.co.uk/sleep-cycles
Sleep pressure
https://www.fromsoultosole.co.uk/sleep-pressure
Circadian rhythm https://www.fromsoultosole.co.uk/circadian-rhythm
Why do I wake up still feeling tired? When we give ourselves ample opportunity to sleep and we don’t remember being awake overnight, it can be really frustrating to then wake up feeling as though we’ve not slept or at least that we’re not refreshed by that sleep. But why does that happen? This blog is all about the many reasons why we may not be getting restorative sleep.
Reading is an amazing way of escaping from your own reality. When we become absorbed in a story that is not our own, whether that be via a book or a movie, we put aside our own moods, worries and emotions. The more empathic we are, the more we are able to put ourselves into the shoes of the characters and let go of our own personal narrative. The benefits of doing this before settling down to sleep, especially for us highly-sensitive empaths, are immense. The ease by which we can fall asleep, the depth of that sleep and its length are all governed by how "safe" our brains feel at the time. If we are stressed, currently going though an emotional or practical upheaval, or are generally finding it difficult to switch off from the day, then our brain is going to want to keep us awake in order to continue its processing. Annoying as it is, this is simply your subconscious' way of sifting through data, resolving problems and (hopefully!) finding solutions. While nothing will ever truly be a better option than dealing with whatever is stressing you out in daylight hours, it would be ridiculous to think that there will never be a time that you go to bed with something on your mind, and this is especially true for highly sensitive, empathic individuals. Reading a book (even for a short space of time) can offer you the distraction that you need to put this issue to one-side and drift off. There are however some rules to remember when it comes to pre-sleep reading, particularly with regards to the content of what you read... 1) The topic should be interesting enough to capture your attention and stop you thinking about your worries. A text book may work, but only if you can actually concentrate on what you are reading without your brain wandering off on a tangent. 2) Reading about something you find emotionally disturbing (murder, rape, child abuse etc) will raise your blood pressure and heart rate, both of which are detrimental to sleeping well. 3) Reading a thrilling page-turner may lead you to still being awake at 2am because you just want to finish the next chapter, and the next, and the next (you get the idea!). 4) Picking a favourite book that you've already read can be a great idea - it will give you all the feels and distraction, without the need to continually page-turn as you already know what's coming. 5) If you find reading difficult because you are sight-impaired, dyslexic or have another form of reading difficulty, or simply because reading reminds you of an academic past you would rather forget, listen to an audiobook instead. You're still getting all of the sleep advantages of reading, but without the discomfort. 6) Never read anything related to your work just before bed. Reading should be about distancing yourself from stress, not inviting it in. 7) Be aware that reading on an electronic device means subjecting yourself to additional cues that now is not the right time for sleep (i.e. blue light exposure). Kindles don't smell or feel as good as a proper book either! If you are finding it difficult to fall asleep and would like some further help in the form of some sleep coaching sessions, please click on the button below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
