Milford chronicle., 1934-09-28

Loss or lack of sleep affect men
tai alertness, accuracy of vision and
hearing. This bears directly upon
a child's school work.
Is there any relationship between
lack of sleep and Nutrition?
Again. studies of many children
and experiments with students and
adults show that:
Loss Of sleep may result in lack
of appetite and in disturbances of
nutrition.
DR.. Lydia Roberts, leading au-
thority on Child Nutrition, makes
the following statement:
"A continual shortage of sleeD.
whether cut from the evening or
morning end of the days quota. may
adversely affect the nutrition of the
child in at least two ways: 0D Dur
ing sleep the body processes slow
down and the need for energy is the
least the body can ever require.
Awake and active the energy needs
are greatly increased. Thus every
awake activity, stolen from the
sleep quota. increases the fuel need
ed by the body. Unless more food is
eaten to compensate. the body tis-
sues are burned and loss of weight
follows. (2) In addition. loss of
sleep results in an over-irritable
nervous system. Nervous tension
still further increases the food
needs. while at the same time, it
usually diminishes the desire for
food. Thus a lack of sleep tends to
produce a nervous. irritable and
undernOuriShed child"
These are serious results They
affect not only the child's physical
growth and development but also
his mental and emotional develop
ment.
What is to be done? There are
several suggestions.
Whenever a child begins to lag
either mentally or physically or to
show signs of nervous irritability, It
should be a danger signal to par
ents and teachers. The first point is
to determine whether his hours of
sleep and rest are sufficient. His
hours for sleep should be increas-
ed We may well give heed. sug-
gests Miss Macdonald. to what ex-
perience has shown are the usual
sleep requirements for children of
different ages. and see that the chill
dren get this amount. Various sleep
tables are given. but the following
is a safe guide: r.
Total Hours
Age of Sleep
To end of first year .14-16 hours
Two and three years of
age ..............13 1874 hours |
Four to eight years ..12-13 hours
Nine to ten years -. lilly hours |
Eleven to thirteen
years . ........... 10-101s hours |
Fourteen to fifteen
years ..s........ 912 hours |
Sixteen years and on .. . hours
AdultS .............. or more /
See that the children go to bed |
,arly enough so that they are ready !,
o get up in the morning. Studies of |
he sleep of children show that |
hose who go to bed early fall asleep
quickly. sleep deeply and awaken
,arly in the morning rested and
eady for the days work and play.
Allow ample time in the morning
or washing. cleaning teeth. dress
ng. eating enough breakfast with
,ut hurry. visiting the toilet and
eaching school on time. This would
'equire an hour to an hour and a
lalf
Many parents say they cannot get
he children to bed early. Many
hings in these days conspire to
,eep children up nights-movies,
'arties and what not
To correct such a situation re-
uires re-adjustments in the home.
he school and the community
here can be a neighborhood rule of
10 extra activities on school nights.
Parents of a neighborhood may
stablish the habit of early bed
ime on school nights.
Parent authority and discipline
ould be factor in solving the
If parents can take the long view
f the problem and see what sufi-
lent daily sleep and rest mean to
he child in optimum physical
rowth. in mental and emotional de-
success and happiness in
ater life. they will certainly see to
that they manage this one factor
n the health of their children
'hich is within their control.