Sleep: still an underrated medicine. And yet sufficient sleep is incredibly important for physical recovery, especially in children. From the Knowledge Center Rehabilitation Medicine Utrecht, the e-learning ‘Sleep in children’ has been developed.
Many children with a chronic condition or illness sleep poorly in the hospital, but also at home,” says researcher Olaf Verschuren of the Rehabilitation Medicine Knowledge Center Utrecht. “A pity, because sufficient good sleep in fact ensures a better recovery, better immunity, better therapy compliance, less depression but also ensures that someone remembers better what was learned during the day.”
In order to make everyone who works with children, but certainly also parents, more aware of sleep as one of the most important concerns during the years of growth and development, the e-learning “Sleep in children” was developed. Olaf: “Given the negative impact of sleep problems on children’s development, it is important that caregivers have knowledge about sleep. During the various training programs, the subject ‘sleep’ is not or hardly addressed. Not surprisingly, little attention is paid to this topic. To change this, we have taken the initiative to realize training in the field of sleep in children.”
The e-learning is interactive and provides information on the physiology and importance of sleep, common sleep disorders and sleep during child development. After starting with a comic strip about sleep, the module offers knowledge about sleep and practical tips for practice that are displayed in an infographic. In addition, various sleep problems are discussed using a sleep diary.
Olaf: “I hope that our caregivers who have gone through the module will ask about sleep in their contacts with children and their parents. Paying attention to and possibly identifying problems with sleep is already an important first step.”
