Sleep-Wake Disorders

Sleep problems can manifest in different ways such as sleep duration, the process of falling asleep, maintaining sleep, waking up frequently during the night, or waking up early. Stress, anxiety, depression, and traumatic experiences can lead to sleep problems. Sleep is critically important for many functions such as brain development, behavioral regulation, and learning. Media products consisting of technological electronic devices are important elements that facilitate life; however, their addictive use during childhood threatens healthy sleep. Insufficient sleep can negatively affect the child’s bio-psycho-social health, family-peer-teacher relationships, daily life activities, and behaviors.

Routines related to sleep time should be established for infants and children. Children’s going to bed and bedtime should be regulated, and bedtime and waking times should be the same on school days and vacation days. After putting young children to bed, it may be beneficial to stay with the child for a while to calm them (such as stroking, reading a book, telling a story) or to allow them to sleep with a favorite toy. As bedtime approaches, a quiet environment should be created, and high-energy games and activities should be avoided before bed. Watching exciting movies or exercising before bed leads to prolongation of the time to fall asleep and reduction in sleep duration.

Children should not be put to bed when hungry; additionally, heavy meals and large portions should be avoided in the two to three hours before bedtime. In particular, caffeine-containing beverages such as tea, coffee, and chocolate should be avoided before sleep. Regular sports activities outside the home every day are beneficial for sleep regulation; however, heavy exercise should be avoided in the two to three hours before bedtime. The bedroom must be at an appropriate temperature, comfortable, quiet, and dark. Night lights with soft light may be preferred. Televisions should not be kept in their rooms.

Common sleep disorders in children and adolescents include:

Insomnia: They experience problems such as being unable to fall asleep despite trying to go to bed, waking up frequently during the night, or waking up early.

Snoring and Sleep Apnea: In children, it usually includes respiratory problems such as snoring and breath cessation.

Sleepwalking: It usually involves uncontrolled movements during sleep and is generally more common in childhood. Sleepwalking children may get out of bed while in a sleepy state and walk around.

Night terrors: They can cause nightmare-like fear attacks and lead to the child waking up. Night terrors are more commonly seen between the ages of 3-12. In night terrors, the child usually wakes up at the same time at night and cries. The child cannot be calmed by the parent; on the contrary, trying to calm them causes the attack to intensify further.

Nightmare: In a nightmare, although wakefulness has occurred in the person, the effect of the hormones causing paralysis during sleep has not passed. For this reason, the person cannot move despite wanting to move, and this creates intense anxiety.