There is a mutual relationship between sleep and health. With poor sleep quality comes health issues. And with health issues, there might be poor sleep quality. Your sleep habits can either make or mar you, and with similar beds or alternative beds to sleep number, and Tempur-pedic like mattresses your quality of sleep may not be as good as it can be. Knowing this, it becomes essential to guide your children towards healthy sleep habits and better sleep quality.
Some behavioral problems associated with poor sleep
Your sleep quality affects the areas of the brain that deal with emotional regulation and response, as well as impulse control. That means the quality of your sleep can affect your child's behavior. Here are some common behavioral problems that are aggravated by poor sleep:
Irritability
Sleepiness and drowsiness are some of the causes of irritability. The child is not in the mood to tolerate playfulness and even interactions. This can make other children's play irritable to them.
Aggression
Children with deprived sleep will find it difficult to follow class activities and the teacher's instructions. The child can miss the day's lesson if the teacher is focused on other children and tries to manage the child's behavior. Not understanding the reason for the child's behavior can lead to an aggressive approach from the teacher. This can spur the child to respond in a like manner.
Hyperactivity
Children with low sleep quality or unhealthy sleep habits can get hyperactive. In a bid to meet up with class activity, they may over-act to cover for perceived slack. Children with sleep disturbances can experience attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHAD),
Social withdrawal
Children with low sleep quality may behave below expectation. Other children in the class may not like the child's behavior and withdraw from him. The child can, on his own, withdraw from other children.
Mood swings
Children with low sleep quality can experience mood swings. Sleeplessness can also aggravate bipolar disorder.
Effects of poor sleep on your child's academics
Poor sleep can also impact your child's academic performance in terms of grade and class behavior. Here are some areas where the quality of your child sleep can affect them in school:
Inability to concentrate and focus
With sleep deprivation, your child can find it difficult to stay focused in class and concentrate on his lessons. There is the possibility of your child falling asleep in the middle of a lesson. A sleepy child will feel tired and disoriented. These are factors that will affect his comprehension.
Lower grades
With sleepiness and tired feeling, your child's comprehension, attention, and assimilation are compromised. A child who has not learned well cannot remember much to write in exams. The understanding of the child on the subject is not enough to aid his performance in the examination.
Lower standardized test scores
Test scores are a result of the children's academic performance. With low sleep quality leading to a low level of comprehension and class participation, it only follows logically that the children's test scores will be affected.
Children with low concentration levels cannot comprehend the lessons. And if they do not comprehend the lessons, they cannot perform well in tests and exams. Children with low sleep quality also find it difficult to remember things. During tests and exams, these children will find it difficult to recall class lessons and answer questions.
Increased absenteeism
Children with low sleep quality often forget themselves. They can be present but absent. They are in the class but are not there with their minds and spirit. These children have issues with staying focused on the present or what is in front of them.
Children with low sleep quality have increased absenteeism. They are not at the same level of attention as other children. If they are not carried along with other children, they find it difficult to comprehend the present stage of the lesson. This will make participating in mind and action difficult for them and tend to increase absent-mindedness.
Effects of poor sleep on your health
Sleep quality has been known to affect people all through life. Therefore, if nothing is done to address the situation, some health issues might arise. Here are some possible effects of poor sleep on your health:
Poor sleep conditions have been known to be a huge contributor to mental health problems. Low sleep quality can aggravate mental health issues like bipolar disorder, anxiety, ADHD, and depression.
Health issues like obesity, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorder, and type 2 diabetes have been linked with sleep disorders. Research was conducted to investigate the prevalence of sleep disorders among diabetic patients and ascertain the relationship between sleep quality and cardiovascular disease.
The results show that almost 40% of the patients with type 2 diabetics had low sleep quality and are more at risk of developing sleep disorders like OSA. These patients also have higher blood pressure and other diabetic complications.
The research established the link between obesity and sleep quality when it revealed that obese people are more at risk of OSA. Sleep disorder is more common among type 2 diabetic patients, and lack of sleep can make them more susceptible to cardiovascular disease.
Poor sleep can affect your child at different stages of their lives, from childhood to adulthood. If you have poor sleep, you can wake up groggy and unprepared to face the day. More than that, it can affect your child's academic performance and general behavior. It has more adverse effects on your health. Diabetic patients and people with other health challenges like obesity are more susceptible to the dangers of poor sleep. A sleep number bed can be a perfect solution for your child. If you are wondering how heavy are sleep number beds, we have written an article about that very question.