The Importance and Intricacies of Sleep

Sleep

Sleep is the time when people’s brain is very active. Sleep takes more effects to the brain in infancy through childhood. During these periods of the life span the brain develops a lot while sleeping, which is why they fall into deeper sleep.

During infancy the first year is the most drastic change of the baby’s sleeping pattern. Infants do not sleep throughout the night since they have not yet developed a sleep cycle yet (Lampl). Infants sleep from 12-18 hours a day. In a study done to 46 infants it showed that the infant first sixteen weeks of life there was a decrease of the total hours of sleep the infant received per day. When infants sleep it is important to take notice that the non-supine position is a risk for sudden infant death syndrome (Smylie).

Sleeping can affect a person during childhood when they do not receive enough sleep. During this time the brain goes through morphological changes such as pruning, synapse growth and white mater myelination (Kurth). Sleep affects a child not only physically but also emotionally. It is common for this age group to develop insomnia, sleep disorders, breathing disorders and many more disorders (Baweja). Enuresis happens often to during childhood. Sleepwalking is common during childhood it happens to some children when they are sleep deprived they spend more time in deep sleep when they sleepwalk. Sleepwalking is common in childhood but can occur to adolescence and adults (Bell).

The average adolescence should sleep an average of 9 hours, however almost all adolescence receive less (George). Receiving an in adequate amount of sleep can have consequences not only mentally and physically but also academically. Adolescences can be tested to view the amount of sleep they...

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