From my experience with visiting cats to our garden, I have found them active during night, moving about and looking for a safe place to sleep during the day. I remember seeing them under the shade of trees or in the corner of the courtyard or in the grass, quietly resting during the day.
During the morning walk I spotted a cat seated and sleeping. I moved towards it slowly and took the above photos. It was the shutter sound of the camera that seemed to disturb its sleep. It woke up and moved forward into the overgrowth of grass. Before it was no more visible, it turned back once and appeared annoyed over my presence which disturbed its sleep.
I stood at the site for a while to see if the cat could be spotted. The two feet overgrowth of the grass gave it a safe hiding place for it to prolong its sleep.
I remember a nature watcher once telling me about the animals who move about in the night. They are alert and sharp during their nocturnal movements for which they prepare themselves during the day with uninterrupted sleep.
One common concern I hear from families, is the disturbed sleep habits of children and parents. The bed time is nearer to mid night with many families, as the TV serials keep them occupied. Often children are co-watchers even if they are not censored for children's viewing. Subsequently the sleeping time of children gets reduced to less than eight hours and they are dragged out of bed in the morning to get them hurriedly ready for school. The history of micro sleep is a common phenomenon with adults and children during the day.
I have a suspicion that adults tolerate the reduced hours of sleep better, although sleep debt accumulated would reduce efficiency and alertness. Children who are habituated to less than eight hours of sleep function sub-optimally. I have evidences that children who sought consultation for in attention did better when their sleep was regulated to correspond with the circadian rhythm of the body.
The Police bureau who looks in to road accidents suggested that sleep deprivation, alcohol use and over-speeding were three common causes of traffic accidents.
The pre-school children who need about ten hours of sleep at night, if reduced to have less than eight hours of sleep, and were to watch the visual screen for three or more hours of a day, would have a compounding adverse effect on their attention, language processing, comprehension and interactive behaviour.
It is now about thirty five years since I started taking a sleep history of children and parents who visited for consultation. Since it became part of the regular conversation with families, I have had a small percent of parents taking it as an important dimension to promote childhood wellness.
Watching the cat in the photos above, I felt, that it protected its sleep time by moving away from distraction.
Paediatricians while offering their help to treat the medical condition of children for which parents come to visit them, are under obligation to enquire about the dietary habits of the child. I hope they would include taking the history of sleep habits of the child and engage in dialogue with parents, to optimise the duration and quality of sleep of children! The ingredients for optimal child development are, emotionally safe environment at home, balanced diet, planned interactive play time, sound parenting practices and optimal sleep hygiene practices.
Good sleep practices are therapeutic to the body and mind and offer improved wellness!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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