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Sleep

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What is sleep?

Sleep is an active physiological state of the brain. Our brain stays active to ensure we are safe while sleeping, while the rest of our body and neural pathways take a break. Sleep is an important occupation to support the processing of information from our day and helps us store memories for future use. Good quality sleep increases a person’s ability to learn, but on the other hand poor quality and quantity of sleep can reduce a person’s capacity to learn.

Why is sleep important?

Sleep improves our capacity to learn, perform in daily occupations, ability to understand new concepts, ability to overcome challenges and problem solve, our life satisfaction, immunity and lowers our stress levels. Lacking sleep quantity can impair growth learning and increase challenging behaviours.

What are the building blocks necessary to develop efficient sleep abilities?

How can you tell if a child experiences challenges with sleep?

Common signs of sleep challenges include: 

Challenges with and regressions in sleep routines often occur in children who are going through a developmental change; whether a learning leap, hormonal changes or puberty in adolescence. If you are unsure of whether your child’s sleep challenges are within the normal parameters for their age, seek advice from a medical professional or Occupational Therapist.

What can we do to help?

Occupational Therapy can help by:

Assessing your child’s specific challenges by:

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