(HealthDay is the new name for HealthScout News.)
FRIDAY, Aug. 29, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- One of three parents finds back-to-school time the most hectic time of the year, and one of three also reports losing sleep during September, a new survey finds.
"Parents need to be aware of their own sleep issues during the back-to-school season," says Dr. Rafael Pelayo, an assistant professor at Stanford University's Sleep Disorders Clinic. "When kids start school, we focus a lot on children's issues. It's really about family, and parents, too, are under stress this time of the year."
During this time, parents many be having trouble sleeping. To meet all the demands on their time from work and their children, parents tend to get up earlier and go to bed later. They may also have changed their sleep routine during the summer and now want to get back to the sleep routine that they have during the school year, Pelayo says.
"You cannot change your sleep patterns overnight," he says. In addition, parents who have had sleep problems during the summer will find these problems getting worse as they try to change their sleep pattern.
Pelayo says that in the fall, all of a sudden you have to get up earlier to get the kids out the door. Plus, you have added responsibility at night, when you have to make sure the kids get all their work done and are ready for school.
Parents should not ignore their own sleeping trouble, Pelayo says. "You need to know that medical help is available for sleep problems, and you can consult your doctor. Medications for sleep are better then they have ever been, and people should be open-minded about using them," he advises.
Pelayo agrees that other ways of helping parents and children get enough sleep include creating a bedtime routine, with regular bedtimes and wake-up times, starting school preparations early in the evening, and limiting the number of after-school activities.
Since it takes from a few days to a few weeks to change sleep patterns, ideally parents should start making the changes in their sleep routine a week or two before school starts, not just a couple of days before, Pelayo advises.
"We need to give sleep the same importance we give diet and exercise," Pelayo says.
Harris Interactive conducted the survey. The pollsters interviewed 2,687 adults 18 years of age and older. Among these, 662 were parents with school-aged children. The pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Synthelabo, the makers of Ambien, a sleep medication, sponsored the survey.
Russell Rosenberg, director of the Northside Hospital Sleep Medicine Institute in Atlanta and a spokesman for the National Sleep Foundation, says this is the time of the year parents are most sleep-deprived.
Rosenberg stresses that another consequence of losing sleep is drowsy driving, which he says is an epidemic and puts people at a much higher risk for car crashes.
We tend to be sleepy in the afternoon, Rosenberg notes. "At 3 o'clock when you are picking up your child and you haven't slept well, you are really putting yourself and other kids at risk for a car accident."
Rosenberg recommends taking naps, going to bed earlier than one does during the summer, and to take sleep seriously and get more.
More information
To learn more about sleep problems, visit the National Sleep Foundation or the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
