Academic-Style Review Paper Example

Enough sleep is a major factor when it comes to the development of children. Considering the case of a stay at home father of three children aged five months, three years, and 13 years, there is a need to have a schedule for them so that regular sleep patterns can be realized. A failure to put children to bed at the same time every day and ensuring they do not get at least 12 hours of sleep each and every night, their ability to learn and develop cognitively will be interfered with. In addition to enough sleep during the night, it is important that both schools are going and non-school going children get some sleep in the afternoons either in school and at home. In essence, lack of sleep affects the intellectual development of children.

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Each and every child needs to sleep and to get enough sleep. Sleep happens to be the primary activity of both children and adults brain in early and late stages of development respectively. In children, Circadian rhythms, also known as the sleep-wake cycle, are kept in check by dark and light and said rhythm take some time to build up, resultant in the irregular sleep schedules of newborn babies. Said rhythms start to develop at about 42 days from the day a baby is born and by 90 to 180 days most babies have a regular sleep-wake cycle. By the age of two years, a majority of children have used up more time sleeping as opposed to being awake and taken as a whole; a child will use up close to half of their childhood in bed sleeping. As aforementioned, sleep is of so much relevance for children as it straightforwardly affects the physical and mental development of children. This paper will give invaluable insights on the sleep requirements of newborns (0 to 3 months), infants (4-11 months), Toddlers (1-2 years), preschoolers (3-5 years) and school-aged children (6-13 years).

Erath et al., make an affirmation that there is a direct relationship between the intelligence of anyone given child and the amount of sleep said child receives. What is more, they recommend enough sleep as a precursor to the real academic achievement of a child. The authors go ahead to show that there are different types of sleep in children, these include Non-Rapid Eye Movement and Rapid Eye Movement (REM).Non-Rapid Eye Movement which is abbreviated as NREM is also known as quiet sleep. In the course of the root stages of NREM sleep, the supply of blood to the muscles is heightened, vigor is replenished, tissues increase in size and become more differentiated, and very significant hormones are produced for the purpose of generalized growth and development (Erath, Tu, Buckhal & ElSheikh, 2015). Active sleep is another state of sleep, and it is also known as Rapid Eye Movement (REM). In the course of active sleep, the mental state of children is active, and dreaming takes place. The physical state is inactive, and in essence, the only processes that continue without fail include the pumping of blood by the circulatory system and breathing. Babies use about half of their time in every one of the states above, and every sleep cycle lasts for close to 50 minutes. At approximately six months, Rapid Eye Movement state of sleep takes up about 30 percent of sleep. At the moment children are of age and need to attend preschool, their cycles of sleep take about 90-minute turns (Erath, Tu, Buckhalt, & ElSheikh, 2015).

Studies conducted by Hupbach et al. affirm that when it comes to matters of children that are newly born, sleep in the course of the first few months takes place any time of day or night and the cycle of sleeping and staying awake coincides with the need to be breastfed, diaper changed and even nurtured. Babies get to sleep a total of eleven to eighteen hours each and every day on a schedule that is not consistent with breaks of 60 to 180 minutes within which children stay awake. In general periods of sleep usually, take up several few minutes to a couple of hours. For the time that they are sleeping they are most of the time active, smiling, sucking, twitching their hind limbs and forelimbs, and tossing and turning; seeming as though they are restless. Babies that are newly born show their need to get some sleep in several diverse manners. Some they choose to fuss, rub their eyes, wail or portray this need with several different gestures. Parents should be aware of the fact that it is best to take babies to sleep the moment they are sleepy but never in any one moment asleep. Babies are much more likely to fall asleep faster and finally master ways through which they can get themselves to a state of rest. It is also worth mentioning that babies that are newly born can be given reason to rest for a limited period in the course of the day by predisposing them to a bit of noise and light; besides playing a lot with the baby during the say is a good thing. This makes children exhausted in a nice way by the time dusk approaches and night falls. Whats more, as the evening time reaches, the surroundings can be a bit quieter and less bright with limited activity (Hupbach, Gomez, Bootzin & Nadel, 2009).

As a parent, there is a need to support5 a childs process of development by giving them enough time to sleep. Enough sleep and healthy sleep patterns make a child to develop their capacities much faster i.e. the sensory and motor skills of the child are given a chance to develop. Children also get to develop learning skills efficiently through sleep i.e. the sleep acquired today usually goes a long way in affecting the way children learn through touch, sight, smell, taste, and listening As such, parents need to look carefully at the sleep patterns of their children and look out for any signs of sleepiness. The moment a child seems to be drowsy, it is important for the parent involved to put said child to sleep; waiting until the child is asleep so that you put it in a comfortable place is not advisable. In addition to that, the position with which a baby is put to sleep also matters a whole lot; it is advisable that babies are placed on their cribs on their backs with their heads and face clear off baby shawls, blankets, dolls, and myriad other soft items. In general, parents should encourage their children to sleep during the night as this is when they are bound to develop best cognitively.

Infancy describes children that are 4 to 11 months. When children are six months old, they are already infants and for most of them feeding during the night time is never necessary. In fact, many children choose to sleep all through the evening time; 70 to 90 percent of babies will show this sleep pattern by the time they are nine months old. Infants usually sleep 9 to 12 hours the moment night falls and take up 30 minutes to two-hour naps, one to five times a day; much less as thy attain 12 months of age.

Seehagen et al. posit that developmental and social issues have also been known to be effective to sleep. Secure children that happen to have a valid attachment to their caregiver are more likely to go through fewer sleep challenges, but all the same, children are bound to be very reluctant to let go off of such a bond for the sake of getting some sleep. In the course of the second half of an infant year i.e. the period defining month 6 to month 11, many babies go through what can be referred to as separation anxiety. Increased development of motor skills may be the very reason children get disrupted in their sleep and parents ought not to be worried about this. It is the role of parents to come up with regular day and night time schedules so that their children can develop in the healthiest of ways.

Afternoon naps are imperative for preschoolers, and it is for this reason children in kindergarten, nursery, and pre-unit classes are encouraged to sleep during afternoons after they take their lunch. Instructors are usually aware that if children do not sleep enough, they are unlikely to decipher any content they previously learned. Gomez, Bootzin, and Nadel, in their 2006 study make it clear that naps are very much necessary when it comes to fostering abstraction in language-learning infants and preschoolers. Children may understand content the moment it is delivered to them, but in the event, they do not sleep enough they are more likely to remember whatever it is they learned and succeeded academically in the future. Exhaustion gets in the way of knowledge and understanding in infants and school going children, and the solution is for parents to avail children an opportunity to sleep because of rest wards off exhaustion in children (Gomez, Bootzin, & Nadel, 2006).

Learning as a process in infants is dependent on how much rest is acquired in between lessons. As such learning is a nap-dependent process as proven by the discipline of developmental science. In addition to that, the process of learning depends a whole lot on the amount of sleep acquired during the night time. Children on themselves should be protected against themselves so that they do not forget to relax; this is particularly the case because preschoolers often get caught up in play. Parents are naturally charged with the responsibility of helping children to strike a balance between sleep, play, education, and myriad other activities.

References

Erath, S. A., Tu, K. M., Buckhalt, J. A., & ElSheikh, M. (2015). Associations between children's intelligence and academic achievement: the role of sleep. Journal of sleep research, 24(5), 510-513.

Gomez, R. L., Bootzin, R. R., & Nadel, L. (2006). Naps promote abstraction in language-learning infants. Psychological Science, 17(8), 670-674.

Hupbach, A., Gomez, R. L., Bootzin, R. R., & Nadel, L. (2009). Napdependent learning in infants. Developmental science, 12(6), 1007-1012.

Seehagen, S., Konrad, C., Herbert, J. S., & Schneider, S. (2015). Timely sleep facilitates declarative memory consolidation in infants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(5), 1625-1629.