Let's face it, more parenthood memes talk about lacking sleep than almost any other topic... and I bet you relate to them all? If so, you are not only in good company, you are included among an elite team of parents who battle the daily grind with nowhere near enough steam to function at 100%.
In an article entitled Why Sleep Deprivation is Torture, Dr. Bulkeley explains: "In fact, prolonged sleep deprivation is an especially insidious form of torture because it attacks the deep biological functions at the core of a person's mental and physical health." What does this mean for parents? It means that parenting with prolonged sleep deprivation is not only a challenge to parenting effectiveness, it is a challenge to maintaining safety.
Initially, sleep deprivation may cause you to be irritable, tired and unable to concentrate. However, if the deprivation continues it can create detriments to safety such as disorientation, visual misperceptions and severe lethargy. It can make driving or cooking difficult and even the task of keeping your kids from danger within the confines of your own home can become daunting.
In an article entitled Why Sleep Deprivation is Torture, Dr. Bulkeley explains: "In fact, prolonged sleep deprivation is an especially insidious form of torture because it attacks the deep biological functions at the core of a person's mental and physical health." What does this mean for parents? It means that parenting with prolonged sleep deprivation is not only a challenge to parenting effectiveness, it is a challenge to maintaining safety.
Initially, sleep deprivation may cause you to be irritable, tired and unable to concentrate. However, if the deprivation continues it can create detriments to safety such as disorientation, visual misperceptions and severe lethargy. It can make driving or cooking difficult and even the task of keeping your kids from danger within the confines of your own home can become daunting.
To put it into perspective, it is UNETHICAL for professional researchers to push sleep deprivation to limits beyond what has been described above. Now, that is a scary thought!
What can you do?!? There are many creative ways parents can find to combat the ill effects of sleep deprivation, here are a few to consider:
1. Find another sleep deprived parent and trade childcare. As we talked about above, you are NOT alone in this crisis of sleep. Call your friends, make some new ones and regularly trade an afternoon of childcare for an afternoon nap. Even friends without kids may be happy to barter or trade services.
1. Find another sleep deprived parent and trade childcare. As we talked about above, you are NOT alone in this crisis of sleep. Call your friends, make some new ones and regularly trade an afternoon of childcare for an afternoon nap. Even friends without kids may be happy to barter or trade services.
2. Ask a relative or close family friend to take the kid(s) for an overnight visit. You might be surprised how refreshed you feel after just ONE, long and gloriously undisturbed night's sleep.
3. Examine your family's sleeping arrangements closely. It is possible that some simple bed shifts could improve the quality of sleep you are getting. If a restless co-sleeper is disturbing both you and your partner most nights, try trading off sleep in a spare room so the disturbances each experience are minimized. It is also possible that you are disturbing the little co-sleeper first (with snoring, tossing and turning) which is causing the restlessness. It may be worth it to see if changing the sleeping location of the child might improve the sleep of all involved. Of course, conversely, a family that has been sleeping apart, but with frequent night disturbances from the kid(s), co-sleeping might be a peaceful solution.
4. Be careful what you eat in the evenings. Adding caffeine or sugar (carbohydrates) induced insomnia to an already poor sleep pattern can exacerbate the entire situation. Limit or eliminate the intake of stimulants during the second half of your day to prevent doubling the causes of your sleep deprivation. Also pay attention to the nutritional value of your food overall. Healthier eating habits tend to help with sleep habits. According to Elizabeth Shimer Bowers in an article entitled 7 Common Nutrient Deficiencies: Know the Signs, deficiencies in calcium, vitamin D, iron, B12, folate or magnesium can compound fatigue and other symptoms of sleep deprivation.
5. Create or modify your evening routine. You may have to perform a bit of trial and error but tweaking your evening routine can help to dramatically increase the number of continuous hours your children sleep. Though it sounds counter-intuitive, but putting your kids in bed earlier may actually add up to better and longer sleep. Focus on putting them to bed long before 'bed time' as you want them to have time to wind down and fall asleep by or before 'bed time'.
Brainstorm other possible solutions with friends experiencing the same issues, the more sleepless minds together the BETTER!
Try to remember: this is temporary, you will likely miss the things causing the sleepless in the future and you are standing in solidarity with some other really awesome, albeit, super tired parents.
3. Examine your family's sleeping arrangements closely. It is possible that some simple bed shifts could improve the quality of sleep you are getting. If a restless co-sleeper is disturbing both you and your partner most nights, try trading off sleep in a spare room so the disturbances each experience are minimized. It is also possible that you are disturbing the little co-sleeper first (with snoring, tossing and turning) which is causing the restlessness. It may be worth it to see if changing the sleeping location of the child might improve the sleep of all involved. Of course, conversely, a family that has been sleeping apart, but with frequent night disturbances from the kid(s), co-sleeping might be a peaceful solution.
4. Be careful what you eat in the evenings. Adding caffeine or sugar (carbohydrates) induced insomnia to an already poor sleep pattern can exacerbate the entire situation. Limit or eliminate the intake of stimulants during the second half of your day to prevent doubling the causes of your sleep deprivation. Also pay attention to the nutritional value of your food overall. Healthier eating habits tend to help with sleep habits. According to Elizabeth Shimer Bowers in an article entitled 7 Common Nutrient Deficiencies: Know the Signs, deficiencies in calcium, vitamin D, iron, B12, folate or magnesium can compound fatigue and other symptoms of sleep deprivation.
5. Create or modify your evening routine. You may have to perform a bit of trial and error but tweaking your evening routine can help to dramatically increase the number of continuous hours your children sleep. Though it sounds counter-intuitive, but putting your kids in bed earlier may actually add up to better and longer sleep. Focus on putting them to bed long before 'bed time' as you want them to have time to wind down and fall asleep by or before 'bed time'.
Brainstorm other possible solutions with friends experiencing the same issues, the more sleepless minds together the BETTER!
Try to remember: this is temporary, you will likely miss the things causing the sleepless in the future and you are standing in solidarity with some other really awesome, albeit, super tired parents.