Welcome to my new blog here at The Sleep Sanctuary.
I’m Rachael, a Certified Sleep Consultant and over the coming weeks and months, I’ll be posting lots of information, tips, videos and articles right here, so that you can tackle your child sleep challenges and enjoy some much-needed rest.
I love sleep. I really love it. And when my second child came along and didn’t quite understand this appreciation, sleep became a real focus of our family life. Since then I have read extensively about sleep, talked about it a lot (I know, I’m sorry), researched late in to the night, and even retrained to become a Certified Sleep Consultant.
Now I’d like to share this knowledge with you and help you to understand how you can enjoy better sleep and return to being well-rested happy people once again.
Why Sleep Matters
As you may well know, sleep is a vital function for us humans and it has a huge effect on our physical and mental wellbeing. It is an important natural state where we re-energise and repair our bodies ready for the next day and detox our brains of unwanted chemicals.
We have all experienced that fresh feeling when a good night’s sleep leaves you feeling alert and better prepared to face the challenges ahead.
The odd bad night’s sleep here and there can make you feel tired, irritable, and reaching out for the coffee, but it won’t necessarily harm you. However, regular poor-quality sleep can have a huge effect on your health, affecting your body, thoughts, emotions and behaviour, and can even put you at risk of developing serious medical conditions.
For children, sleep is even more important as it plays a huge role in their physical, emotional and cognitive development during these crucial early years.
Babies and young children use the time when they are sleeping to repair and restore their bodies. Whilst tucked up in their beds, their little bodies are repairing growing tissue, producing white blood cells to support a healthy immune system, directing increased blood to developing muscles, and releasing vital hormones for healthy growth and development.
And that’s not all. Whilst sleeping, a child’s brain is still working hard to make sense of what they have learnt during the day and is sending all of the important information that they gathered – such as new skills, experiences and abilities – from their short-term memory up to the hypocortex part of their brain for long term storage. (A bit like up-loading important documents to your computer hard drive)
A well-rested child will be more in control of their emotions and behaviour and will achieve far more than their sleep deprived peers. They will be more mentally alert with sharper senses, increased cognitive ability, and more able to process and retain information.
So whilst occasional poor sleep is unpleasant for everyone in the family, long-term sleep problems can affect a child’s growth, development and well-being during these early formative years. And that’s not to even mention the parent’s own health, well-being and performance.
I’ve heard sleep deprived parents talk of putting the kettle away in the fridge, forgetting important work meetings and presentations, and describe near misses when driving the car -all because they are sleep deprived.
Putting sleep first
That’s why I love helping families from all over the country to overcome their sleep challenges and discover the real and lasting benefits of better sleep. Once you are able to enjoy a good night’s rest, you feel far more able to tackle every other area of your life and enjoy yourself and your child.
Please feel free to explore the information here and use the techniques at home. If you feel that you’d like to work with me to create a bespoke plan with the support to implement it successfully, please contact me and I’d love to help you.
If you’d like to read more from me, you can follow me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/Rachaeltaylorsleep
I hope you find it useful
Rachael
Certified Sleep Consultant
