Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #1186 - The Sleep Stats That Will Wake You Up

Transcript

#1186 - The Sleep Stats That Will Wake You Up · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

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  Speaker 1: New research just published from the National Child Health Pole
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  Speaker 1: looks at how kids are sleeping and the study will
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  Speaker 1: blow you away. Today we talk about your kids and
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  Speaker 1: their sleep. Welcome to the Happy Families Podcasts, Real parenting
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  Speaker 1: solutions every day on Australia's most downloaded parenting podcasts. We
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  Speaker 1: are Justin and Kylie Coulson.
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  Speaker 2: Sleep deprivation is one of the cruelest forms of torture
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  Speaker 2: that exists in human society. How many times do you
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  Speaker 2: think we've walked around like zombies because we haven't got
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  Speaker 2: enough sleep.
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  Speaker 1: So it's one of the three pillars of good physical health. Okay, Diet, yes, nutrition, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: sleep is one of those three pillars that are completely
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  Speaker 1: necessary for us to do well.
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  Speaker 2: You know that diet and nutrition are the same things, right,
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  Speaker 2: I guessing you meant.
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  Speaker 1: Did I not say exercise? I got a text from
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  Speaker 1: JR the other day. No, when we were recording podcast recently,
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  Speaker 1: you got something wrong. I pulled you up on it.
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  Speaker 1: You said no, no, no, no, we rigged it anyway.
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  Speaker 2: And we got it wrong again.
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  Speaker 1: Well, JR texted me because I said to him, JR,
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  Speaker 1: when you edit this, just let me know was I
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  Speaker 1: right or not? And I haven't told you until now,
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  Speaker 1: But I was right, you got it wrong. And I
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  Speaker 1: just felt a little bit superior. As I got the
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  Speaker 1: text message. I was like, yes, Kylie got it wrong,
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  Speaker 1: and I was right that Kylie got it wrong. And
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  Speaker 1: now you've got me and I don't even need JR.
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  Speaker 1: To tell me. JR played the sound effect anyway, please. So,
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  Speaker 1: diet and exercise are the two pillars that we hear
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  Speaker 1: about most, but sleep is the third pillar, and it's
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  Speaker 1: so overlooked, inappropriately, wrongly, and we've got to get this
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  Speaker 1: thing right. Oh, by the way, when parents say what's
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  Speaker 1: the one thing that I can do to be a
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  Speaker 1: better parent, I don't actually talk about all the parenting stuff,
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  Speaker 1: you know, not what I talk about getting enough sleep? Yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: getting enough sleep. The National Child Health Poll has got
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  Speaker 1: some really fascinating stats, and I want to you throw
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  Speaker 1: a couple of them because it's pretty it's pretty compelling stuff.
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  Speaker 1: The study revealed that forty two percent of children, this
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  Speaker 1: is a study across sixteen hundred parents, looking at sixteen
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  Speaker 1: hundred families, forty two percent of children have problems with
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  Speaker 1: their sleep patents. Forty two percent. That's nearly half of
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  Speaker 1: all families are identifying children who have problems with their
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  Speaker 1: sleep patterns.
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  Speaker 2: Did the study actually look into what is predominantly causing.
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  Speaker 1: Well, they talked about some other things that could be
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  Speaker 1: causing it, and it seems that families are kind of
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  Speaker 1: missing the memos. So here's a little bit of what
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  Speaker 1: I mean by that. Forty seven percent of parents believe
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  Speaker 1: that screen time helps kids wind down. Oh oh yeah,
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  Speaker 1: so almost it does.
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  Speaker 2: Is it helps mom and dad wind down because my
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  Speaker 2: kids occupied, it's quiet, right, and there's this there's this
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  Speaker 2: illusion that we're winding down.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so physically we are. Make no mistake, the brain
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  Speaker 1: is not winding down if it's staring at a screen.
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  Speaker 1: If you're staring at a screen, there's a whole lot
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  Speaker 1: of stimulation that's going on, the visual input, the auditory input,
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  Speaker 1: just the storytelling or whatever's happening on that screen, whether
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  Speaker 1: it's a game, whether it's social media, or whether it's
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  Speaker 1: a TV show.
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  Speaker 2: So when we put a movie on at night and
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  Speaker 2: I fall asleep halfway through it, it's because I am.
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  Speaker 1: Exhausted, that's right, it's good, not because the movie is
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  Speaker 1: for me to lay, just because you feel like it's
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  Speaker 1: helping you to wind down. It's not it's just that
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  Speaker 1: you're so tired. You should have gone to bed half
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  Speaker 1: an hour ago and not even flicked the telly on,
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  Speaker 1: and you would have fallen asleep just as fast, if
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  Speaker 1: not faster. Yeah, so forty seven percent of parents believe
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  Speaker 1: that screen time helps kids wind down. There's the blue light.
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  Speaker 1: The research around blue light is not as robust as
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  Speaker 1: I had previously thought, but it's still a thing, right.
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  Speaker 1: It suppresses some melotone and release a little bit. Melotone
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  Speaker 1: is the sleep hormone that makes you want to not off.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think that it's having a massive impact, but
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  Speaker 1: it's more the excitation and stimulation of the screen and
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  Speaker 1: the content that's on the screen. Kids going like, woh, well,
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  Speaker 1: fully wired and that's what's going on. Don't give you
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  Speaker 1: kids screens when it's time to wind down. It's not
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  Speaker 1: going to help. Another one that really blew me away.
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  Speaker 1: The research shows that there's a strong connection between caffeine
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  Speaker 1: consumption after lunch and sleep difficulties. And in the study
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  Speaker 1: they found that parents are pretty relaxed about the kids
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  Speaker 1: having caffeine in the afternoon and in the evening. Children
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  Speaker 1: who consume caffeine after lunch. According to the National Child
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  Speaker 1: Health Pole, or who use screens before bed are about
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  Speaker 1: twice as likely to have difficulty getting to sleep.
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  Speaker 2: So when you talk about caffeine specifically, what are we
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  Speaker 2: talking about, like what children are having a cup of coffee?
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  Speaker 2: Are we talking No? I mean well, fuzzy drink.
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  Speaker 1: Increasingly, I'm seeing this happen all the time. Parents of
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  Speaker 1: kids who are in their teens are increasingly relaxed about
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  Speaker 1: their kids having coffee. I'm not a health nutrition diet
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  Speaker 1: expert my PhDs in psychology, but what I have read
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  Speaker 1: and what I do understand sends a pretty clear signal
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  Speaker 1: because psychological studies look at the impact of caffeine on
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  Speaker 1: our psychology, and sleep is part of psychology as well
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  Speaker 1: as part of biology. Everything. Everything that I've said is
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  Speaker 1: that you should not be giving children caffeine, period, full stop,
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  Speaker 1: even teenagers. It's not good for them. I know some
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  Speaker 1: people are going to roll their eyes and go, oh doe,
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  Speaker 1: was we going to do anything with that kids? Well,
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  Speaker 1: you actually can, and there's plenty of substitute drinks for example,
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  Speaker 1: or foods that are not coffee or not caffeinated that
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  Speaker 1: the kids can still absolutely enjoy There's just from my perspective,
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  Speaker 1: there's no excuse for giving kids caffeine in their drinks,
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  Speaker 1: and also energy drinks. Any drinks are another example of
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  Speaker 1: what's going on there. So that's something else that the
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  Speaker 1: Child Health Poll found that I think is just staggering
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  Speaker 1: and really really important. After the break, three more findings
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  Speaker 1: that are going to blow you, okay, Kylie. The National
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  Speaker 1: Child Health Pole looking at kids and sleep, Forty two
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  Speaker 1: percent of children aged five to seventeen have a problem
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  Speaker 1: with their sleeping pattern. Kids have got to go to
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  Speaker 1: bed around about the same time every night and get
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  Speaker 1: up around about the same time every morning. That's your
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  Speaker 1: sleeping pattern. If you can do that, your quality of
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  Speaker 1: sleep increases, Your duration of sleep should be about right,
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  Speaker 1: and ideally you're going to have much greater health as
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  Speaker 1: a result. I've already mentioned the link between caffeine in
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  Speaker 1: the afternoons and difficulty getting to sleep, as well as
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  Speaker 1: screens before bed. They just shouldn't be screens about an
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  Speaker 1: hour before bed. That's really I think got to be
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  Speaker 1: the rule no screens in bedrooms. Especially to listen to
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  Speaker 1: this one. One quarter of children have difficulty getting to
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  Speaker 1: sleep and one in five don't have a regular bedtime.
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  Speaker 2: I find this intriguing because we've done so many podcasts
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  Speaker 2: over the years talking about overscheduled children. And when I
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  Speaker 2: think about oversheddling children, they're kind of run from pillar
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  Speaker 2: to post. They've got long hours after school with training
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  Speaker 2: and you know, multiple activities, and the idea that they
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't be able to fall asleep after such a grueling
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  Speaker 2: intrigues me.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it's got to do with screens and
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  Speaker 1: probably has to do with what they're eating when they're
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  Speaker 1: eating it, essentially what they're consuming. Big issue there, and
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  Speaker 1: again the consistency of bedtime is super important. A couple
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  Speaker 1: of other things came out of the pole that are
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  Speaker 1: important for us to discuss as briefly. Almost half of
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  Speaker 1: parents forty six percent of parents believe that too much
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  Speaker 1: sleep is bad for teens, and a third of parents
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  Speaker 1: think that teens who can't get up for school are lazy.
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  Speaker 1: Love this one.
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  Speaker 2: I can see where parents would be concerned about their
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  Speaker 2: kids having too much sleep. The problem is not too
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  Speaker 2: much sleep as much as it's the timing that they
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  Speaker 2: choose to sleep. So, when we understand the biology of
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  Speaker 2: our teenagers and recognize that melatonin secretions happen much later
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  Speaker 2: in the day. For our teenage kids. What we're finding
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  Speaker 2: is they're often going to bed way later than would
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  Speaker 2: be ideal for us, most cases ideal for the parent,
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  Speaker 2: which means they're then wanting to sleep in much later
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  Speaker 2: in the morning to make up for their eight to
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  Speaker 2: ten hours of sleep that they need.
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  Speaker 1: Well, let me add to that, as adults, our body
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  Speaker 1: starts to secrete melatonin as the sun goes down. That's
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  Speaker 1: that whole circadian rhythm thing. Okay, melatonin makes us feel
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  Speaker 1: a bit sleepy. That's why as a parent, if you're
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  Speaker 1: north of about thirty years of age, certainly anytime after
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  Speaker 1: thirty five, you get to about eight thirty at night
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  Speaker 1: and its lights out, like you're done. This is why
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  Speaker 1: we're so happy to put our kids to bed at
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  Speaker 1: seven o'clock, right because we're going to get an hour
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  Speaker 1: on our own and then we're going to crash out
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  Speaker 1: because we're so tired. Our body produces melotonin to put
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  Speaker 1: us to sleep, and throughout the night it produces less
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  Speaker 1: and less melotonin, so that we're waking up and I
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  Speaker 1: don't know, five o'clock, four thirty five thirty something like that.
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  Speaker 1: For our teenagers, though, the body secretes that melatonin an
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  Speaker 1: hour to two hours later, so we're exhausted at eight thirty,
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  Speaker 1: they're still good to go at nine nine thirty, that's
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  Speaker 1: when it starts to kick in. If they're on a screen,
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  Speaker 1: they're even less lightly to be sleepy because not only
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  Speaker 1: is there not much melotonin buzzing around their body yet,
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  Speaker 1: but they're so excited because of what's happening on the screen.
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  Speaker 2: Well, they're getting all those dopamine hits, which is probably
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  Speaker 2: countering any melatonin that's coming out exactly.
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  Speaker 1: That's right. The thing is, you know when you try
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  Speaker 1: to wake up a teenager and they every morning, multiple
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  Speaker 1: of they're like oh, and then they roll over, they
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  Speaker 1: sleep through anything. That's because in an adolescent, the melatonin
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  Speaker 1: secret continues all night, so for us it easies.
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  Speaker 2: Up unfair happen.
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  Speaker 1: So that's why they wake up with such heavy eyes
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  Speaker 1: because their body it's it's got to now spin all
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  Speaker 1: these hormones around and give them that big shot of adrenaline.
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  Speaker 1: It's got to give them that great, big shot of
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  Speaker 1: epinephrine to get them going to the endorphin hit in
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  Speaker 1: the morning. The cortisol hit.
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  Speaker 2: It just all seems a bit unfair. Imagine if my
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  Speaker 2: malatonin kicked in a little bit later, so I would
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  Speaker 2: have more time to myself before I went to bed
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  Speaker 2: because my children had gone to bed at eight thirty
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  Speaker 2: when I want to go to bed.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it happens like that for adults, because
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  Speaker 1: if we were that droopy in the mornings as teenagers are,
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  Speaker 1: we would not get up for our two year olds.
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  Speaker 2: But I don't have two year olds, right, it makes
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  Speaker 2: sense to me that I would have extra hours at night.
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  Speaker 1: Anyway, There's so much more we could talk about with
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  Speaker 1: the Royal Children's Hospital National Child Health Pole. It's really fascinating.
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  Speaker 1: Here are the very short but very important action steps
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  Speaker 1: if you want to have healthy sleep patterns for your children.
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  Speaker 1: Number one good nic screens Well, okay, yeah, no screens.
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  Speaker 1: That really doesn't It has to be Number one, no
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  Speaker 1: screens for about an hour before bedtime, preferably longer. Number
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  Speaker 1: two good sleep hygiene. What does that mean?
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  Speaker 2: Same bedtime, same wake up time.
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  Speaker 1: Cool, dark bedroom, nice and quiet. That's going to be
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  Speaker 1: really helpful, really healthy. You've just mentioned the sleep patterns
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  Speaker 1: as part of the hygiene thing. That is same wake
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  Speaker 1: up time and same bedtime. And the last thing make
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  Speaker 1: sure that you run them ragged during the day so
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  Speaker 1: that they are ready for bed and have a really
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  Speaker 1: soothing sleep routine. So there is the wine down time.
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  Speaker 1: I know, with the younger kids particularly, we used to
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  Speaker 1: love this. They'd have their bath, then they'd be story time,
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  Speaker 1: then we'd sing them songs, then they'd be a prayer.
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  Speaker 1: Then we'd lay on the bed beside them and pat
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  Speaker 1: them off to sleep like that. That routine is so
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  Speaker 1: nice and it makes such a difference. A bit harder
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  Speaker 1: to do that with teenagers. They don't usually like it
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  Speaker 1: when you sing to them a lullaby bedtime. We'll we'll
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  Speaker 1: pat that back so much. But it's about creating that
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  Speaker 1: routine so that the kids can feel safe. On Saturday,
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  Speaker 1: a full conversation with one of the Royal Children's Hospital
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  Speaker 1: National Child Health pol spokespeople, doctor Moya Vandeleur. She's a
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  Speaker 1: respiratory and sleep pediatrician and she's going to walk us
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  Speaker 1: through everything from the pole but also the other stuff
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  Speaker 1: we need to know to help our kids to sleep well.
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  Speaker 1: She'll also answer the question is it a good idea
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  Speaker 1: to put the kids to bed with a warm glass
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  Speaker 1: of milk because that's what my grandma used to always say,
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  Speaker 1: and I had to find out from her. I don't
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  Speaker 1: know whether it was true. I hope you'll joined us
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  Speaker 1: on Saturday for that conversation. The Happy Families podcast is
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  Speaker 1: produced by Justin Roland from Bridge Media. More information and
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  Speaker 1: more resources about making your family happier are available at
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  Speaker 1: happy families dot com dot au.