Sleep important to health

Most of us have heard of “jet lag.” It’s that bad feeling that comes when you travel long distances across several time zones. 

But, not many people have heard that young people can go through a “miniature jet lag” as they grow. It’s called a “delayed sleep phase.” 

Dr. Sid Nau is a sleep specialist at Forest Park Hospital in St. Louis. The hospital is across Highway 40 from the St. Louis Zoo. 

He gives both young people and adults advice on what to do when their sleep patterns are interrupted. If you go for long periods without enough sleep, it can be bad for your health. 

But, he said, children in elementary and middle school usually are good sleepers. He said, “Children in that (8-13) age group are notoriously the best sleepers at night and the most awake during the day.” 

But, once in awhile, things go wrong and normal sleep patterns may change. Nau said this can happen when something in a person’s life changes. 

Some people have sleep changes when they are under stress. Sources of stress for a child could be a broken arm or leg or if there is a divorce in the family, Nau said. 

When that happens, it’s good to understand your regular sleep patterns so you can get them back to normal. 

Nau said everyone has an “internal clock” that tells your body when it’s time to sleep and when it’s time to get up. That “clock” usually is set by changes from daylight to darkness.

People get “jet lag” when they travel long distances and what seems like night to their body is actually daytime outside. 

For instance, consider an 8 1/2-hour flight from Lambert Field in St. Louis to Paris, France. If your TWA flight took off at 6 p.m., the sun would be going down in St. Louis. 

But, in Paris, it’s already 1 a.m. in the morning. When you arrive in Paris, it will be 9:30 a.m., Paris time. But, your “internal clock” is telling your body  it’s 2:30 a.m., St. Louis time, and you should be in bed for several more hours. 

That means you might feel sleepy while French people are awake and moving around. It may take several days before your “internal clock” has re-set for Paris time. 

Of course, when you come back to St. Louis, your “internal clock” is on Paris time. It will need to re-set itself again. Those re-setting days are when you say you’ve got “jet lag.” 

Dr. Nau said young people, when they near the teenage years, their “internal clock” may change on its own. Reasons for this change aren’t totally clear. But, it can cause trouble.

For instance, if you need nine to 10 hours of sleep, you should be going to sleep at 8 or 9 p.m. Then, you’ll be getting enough sleep before having to get up for school. 

But, your adjusted “internal clock” may say you aren’t ready for sleep. So you can’t go to sleep right away.

This “delayed sleep phase” can be one reason teenagers have trouble getting to school on time in the morning. They haven’t had enough sleep. 

But, Nau said it’s possible to “re-set” your “internal clock.” The first step is to set your bedside alarm clock to get up at the right hour, even if you haven’t had enough sleep.

After awhile, you will feel sleepy earlier in the evening. In other words, you’ll get your “internal clock” back in sync with your regular school day. 

Nau said controlling the get-up time is the best way to re-set the “internal clock.” “If you just go to bed earlier, you’ll lay awake. That’s not good,” he said. 

When you go to sleep, it’s normal to have dreams. Nau said, “Everyone dreams every night, even if you can’t remember dreaming when you wake up in the morning.” 

Sleep runs in cycles. There are two phases of light sleep, two of heavy sleep and one when the dreams come. In the second layer of deep sleep, that’s when growth hormones are secreted in young people. So, it’s important that kids get deep sleep every night. 

The fifth sleep phase is called REM sleep. That stands for “rapid eye movement.” Most dreams happen when your eyes are shifting back and forth rapidly, Nau said. These five-step sleep cycles usually are 90 minutes each and you have several each night. 

Dr. Nau said dreams can be helpful, even if they are bad. “When you are dreaming, it seems to be a time when your mind is adjusting to life’s experiences,” he said.