Insomnia is caught from mums not dads, a new survey reveals
CHILDREN can catch insomnia from their mums but not their dads according to Warwick University academics.
Children sleep more poorly if their mothers suffer from insomnia – and the lack of sleep can affect children’s mental well being, exam grades and development.
The study of 200 seven to 12-year-olds found that children whose mothers have insomnia symptoms fall asleep later, get less sleep and spend less time in deep sleep.
The study was done by Dr Sakari Lemola from Warwick’s department of psychology and Natalie Urfer-Maurer from the University of Basel.
The study was reported in the journal Sleep Medicine.
Dr Lemola said: “These findings are important because sleep in childhood is essential for wellbeing and development.
“The findings show that children’s sleep has to be considered in the family context.
“In particular, the mother’s sleep appears to be important for how well school-aged children sleep.”
The academics used a technique called electroencephalography to find out how well the children in the study were sleeping. It records electrical activity in the brain.
The adults were interviewed about their sleep.
Academics decided that mothers’ sleep had a bigger impact than fathers’ sleep because children spend more time with their mothers.
They say the family link comes from children learning sleep habits from their parents.
They say the family link may also come from an inherited genetic problem with sleep and that family problems such as AN investigation is under way to determine the cause of a fire which ripped through a Foleshill MOT centre and left one man with burns.
Up to 30 firefighters were called to the scene on Stoney Stanton Road on Saturday morning.
Crews were there within minutes, and at the height of the fire, six fire engines and an aerial platform were all needed to help tackle the flames.
One man received minor burns in the blaze which closed off arguments before bed time may prevent everyone in the family sleeping.
They also say people with sleep problems may monitor both their own and their children’s sleep very closely which makes it harder to get a good night’s sleep. Stoney Stanton Road for several hours..
However the cause of the fire is still unknown and an investigation is being carried out.
A spokesman for West Midlands Fire Service said yesterday that firefighters would be returning to the shop later on that day to assess the damage and make sure there are no further problems.
They added that the injured man was treated at the scene by paramedics from West Midlands Ambulance Service. A BIKER died on Thursday night after his motorcycle was involved in a collision with a van and a car.
Police, paramedics and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance were all called to the crash at around 6.50am on the B4100 in Warmington, south of Gaydon.
Ambulance crews found a man in cardiac arrest and the biker was sadly confirmed dead a short while later.
Witnesses should call police on 101, quoting incident 343 of August 31.