IS YOUR CHILD A SLEEPWALKER?

Well don’t worry – your somnambulating little cherub is not alone!

Sleepwalking – which is thought to be hereditary - is fairly common in children between the ages of 5-12 – and there’s absolutely no evidence that it’s a sign of something being emotionally or psychologically wrong.

The good news is that as most children tend to sleepwalk within an hour or two of falling asleep (during stages 3 or 4 of their first sleep cycle), it’s more than likely that you’ll still be up and about and on hand to guide them back to bed.

You should, however, take precautions so that your sleepwalking child is less likely to come to harm. Even though their eyes are open, they don’t see the same way they do when they’re awake and they often think they’re in different rooms in the house or different places altogether. 

Top tips to keep your sleepwalker out of harms way:

• Try not to wake them up as this might be scary – gently guide him or her back to bed (sleepwalking occurs during deep sleep anyway, so you might struggle to wake them up at all)
• Lock doors and windows so they cannot wander out into the night.
• Think twice before installing a bunk bed
• Remove sharp or breakable thing from around their bed and keep dangerous objects out of reach
• Close the safety gate at the top of the stairs.

Unless the episodes are very regular, cause your child to be sleepy during the day, or your child is engaging in dangerous sleepwalking behaviours, there’s usually no need to “treat” sleepwalking. But if the sleepwalking is frequent, causing problems, or your child hasn’t outgrown it by the early teens, it’s probably worth talking to your doctor.

Sleep tight. 

You booze, you snooze...but not very well.

If you've had a few, the likelihood is that you'll fall asleep almost as soon as you turn out the light.

But our sleep patterns are such that you're actually not doing yourself any favours.

Boozing before bed interferes with the normal sleep process because it can send you straight into deep sleep. This means that you miss out on the first stage of sleep known as Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. 

When you're in deep sleep, your body restores itself, but as the grog wears off, your body slips back into REM sleep which is a lot easier to wake up from. Many people will wake up after just a few hours when they have been drinking. 

In the course of a "normal" night, you would normally have six to seven cycles of REM sleep which will usually leave you feeling refreshed when you wake up. But if you have been drinking, you may only have one or two cycles, which will leave you feeling drained and short of rest when you do wake up.

Top tip for a great night's sleep: Stay off the sauce...or at least give yourself a few hours off before you hit the hay.