If you're a sleep-deprived parent, you'll be pleased to know that Wendy Hall, an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of British Columbia, is on the case — the sleep case, that is.
Hall would like the powers that be to start taking the sleep issue seriously: to treat it as a health issue that affects all members of the family, parents and kids alike. As she notes in an article that appeared in the Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development, "it is difficult to imagine a child whose optimal development would be unaffected by distressed and tired parents."
At the top of Hall's sleep wish list is more dollars for research into the most effective methods of dealing with sleep problems in babies and young children. "Parents have justification for being skeptical about the utility of interventions in the absence of such evidence, particularly when the lay literature provides conflicting views about behavioural sleep problems and optimal solutions," she writes. "More longitudinal research is necessary to support causal relationships between early sleep problems and longer-term social and behavioural difficulties."
The sleep issue could certainly benefit from a bit of a boost — kind of like what happened with the postpartum depression issue. It wasn't that long ago that mothers with postpartum depression suffered in silence. Sure, family and friends knew something was wrong, but the secret was closely guarded, swaddled in a blanket of shame.
Then something shifted. Postpartum depression became a public health priority and mothers started to talk about how hard it was to care for a baby when you could barely take care of yourself.
That's typically what happens with public health concerns. One moment there's low-level awareness of the issue. The next day, the topic is making headline news.
If sleep advocates like Hall have their way, it won't be long before we're having productive conversations about sleep, as opposed to feeling guilty about the sleep choices we did or didn't make or feeling like we have to wear sleep stickers that identify our sleep allegiances to like-minded parents on the playground.
Now, over to you. Post your comments below.
- Are you losing sleep over sleep?
- Do you think there should be greater emphasis on sleep research and education?
- How is sleep (or the lack thereof) affecting your life?
- What sleep words of wisdom would you like to offer to other parents, based on your own experiences in the sleep deprivation trenches?
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