Sleeping Angels

How children's sleep affects their health and well being.

Dennis Rosen, M.D. is a pediatric sleep specialist who practices at Children's Hospital Boston. See full bio

June 9, 2009

When doctors don't have enough time to devote to their patients

At this week's meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Seattle, a study was presented which found that pediatricians in Philadelphia significantly under diagnosed sleep disorders in their patients. Does this reflect a lack of awareness on their part of the importance of a good night's sleep to children, their health, and development, or, more ominously that our health system is not functioning as it should, and that mounting pressures to cut costs may only make this worse? Read More

May 31, 2009

Why we dream (and what happens when we do)?

Dreaming is such a common, yet mysterious phenomenon. Why do we dream, and what purpose does it serve, anywyay? It turns out that there are more than a few answers to this question. Read More

May 24, 2009

Why do people sleep talk?

A reader asked, after reading my last post on 11 reasons a good night's sleep is so important:

What is happening in the brain when kids talk while sound asleep? (I am usually asleep when this happens, but it's loud enough to arouse me to check on my child).

The answer is that while part of the brain remains fast asleep, another part is very much awake.

May 20, 2009

11 reasons why a good night's sleep is so important.

11 reasons why it's so important for kids to get a good night sleep (and yes, many of these are relevant to adults as well). Read More

May 19, 2009

Different ideas on how to make tomorrow's C.E.O.'s better

Dr. Dan Ariely wrote a very interesting post yesterday about business education, its value, and how he proposes to increase its value and utility. I especially like the epigraph by Derek Bok.

David Brooks published an interesting column in today's New York Times about the qualities that make a good C.E.O. His conclusions, however, were different than Dr. Ariely's. Read More

May 17, 2009

My 6 year old won't go to sleep because it's BORING!

In response to my recent posting on teaching an older child how to fall asleep on her own, a reader wrote:

Recently, our 6 year old has started to have a very difficult time falling asleep. He actively tries not to, complaining that sleep is boring and that he doesn't know how to go to sleep. Advice?

May 11, 2009

An act of rape, or a medical disorder?

Last week a friend emailed me something he had seen on the internet about a court case that had come before the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin, Australia last summer. A 48 year old man who stood accused of "gross indecency and intercourse without consent" with a female houseguest, pleaded not guilty to the charges, claiming that he was not aware of what he was doing at the time, and was actually suffering from a form of parasomnia known as "sexsomnia". A person suffering from this disorder, according to his lawyers and an expert witness who was brought in to testify on his behalf, has a tendency to engage in sexual activities while asleep, without being at all aware of what he is doing.

The jury took less than an hour to find the defendant not guilty. Read More

May 7, 2009

Yes, you can teach your child to fall asleep on her own, even if she knows how to jump out of her crib.

There is no "correct" answer for when the best age is to modify a child's sleep behavior. Usually, the best time to do this is when the parents have come to the conclusion that their child's sleep behavior has become too disruptive, and needs to change.
Read More

May 5, 2009

How much sleep do children ACTUALLY need?

The question of how much sleep a child needs at a given age is a very good one, and the answer is not as straightforward as one might imagine. Read More

May 2, 2009

Kids are NOT just little adults

The first rule of pediatrics, which all medical students learn on the first day of their rotation in the pediatric department, is that kids are not little adults. Because children are constantly growing and developing, certain interventions can (and sometimes must) be made which not only do not work in adults, but may prevent the problem from recurring in adulthood. Conversely, there are some therapies, standard in adults, which are unsuited for children. There are also outcomes of certain disease states in children, not seen in adults, of which one needs to be aware. Read More

Sleep Basics

For many of us, sleep is the sweet balm that soothes and restores us after a long day of work and play. But for those for whom sleep is elusive or otherwise troubled, the issue is far more fraught. Most people, at some point in their lives, experience difficulty falling asleep.

Go to the Sleep Basics page for more on Sleep including:

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