Divided Attention and Parents’ Stress: Part 1

The world we live in demands that we are constantly connected to our electronic networks for news, work, friends, and the latest trends on Twitter. We don’t just need to know…we need to know now. Parents, especially those with young children, also have to be constantly aware of their children in small ways (“don’t touch, that’s hot!) and big ways (“will she like the new babysitter?”). The divided attention needed to stay on top of everything seems to be no longer a choice for parents and has become a normal part of life. “Multitasking” is an expectation, and for most people, a source of significant stress. In the past, media messages and employers asserted that the human brain is limitless and that people, especially women, can manage a lot more work “simply” by multitasking (doing tasks simultaneously or switching back and forth between tasks very quickly). But, the latest research has demonstrated that multitasking has its price, in less focus, accuracy, and creativity, as well as increased stress.

You may be wondering why I’m bringing this up in a blog about babies.

If you are a Secrets reader, you are interested in understanding more about your baby’s behavior. You might be thinking that knowing more about your little one will help you feel less stressed. But knowing a little more about yourself might be more helpful. You may not be thinking of the ever-present need for divided attention as a source of stress but it is known to be so stressful, scientists use situations that require divided attention to induce stress for experimental purposes.

Here are some of the documented effects of divided attention:

• Increased heart rate and blood pressure
• Perception that common tasks are more difficult to accomplish
• Mood changes
• Interference with the ability to remember things, including future tasks
• Interference with retrieval of memories and reduced accuracy of those memories

What do these effects mean in the real world?

Let’s say you’re late for work because the kids haven’t been very cooperative. The baby might be getting a cold and your preschooler had a tantrum when you told him that he can’t wear his Halloween costume. You have a meeting in the early afternoon and co-workers have been texting you about it since you first woke up. You had planned to run errands on the way home from work and your spouse asks you to make another stop at a gardening shop that you normally like to visit. You’re almost out the door when you realize you can’t find your car keys. You get a call from your boss just as your preschooler disappears into his room. What happens next?

• Your breathing gets a little faster and you feel overwhelmed and even a little sick
• Anything your boss asks about seems out of line
• You resent your spouse for asking you to run his or her errands when you already have too many of your own (even though you can’t seem to remember what those errands are)
• You feel overly frustrated with your preschooler for going back into his room. After all, he “should know” you need to leave
• You are certain that you left your keys on the counter and can’t imagine any other place that they can be (even though you put them on the hall table without thinking earlier in the morning)

Does any of that sound familiar? Put sleep deprivation in the picture and everything gets worse. It may seem that there is nothing you can do about this but there is! A few changes and you can make even the busiest morning less stressful. In part  2, we'll share these changes. In the meantime, take a deep breath and try to relax!

References

1. Nebel, K et al. On the neural basis of focused and divided attention. Cognitive Brain Res 2005; 5: 760-776.
2. Petrac DC et al. Differential relationship of recent self-reported stress and acute anxiety with divided attention performance. Stress 2009; 12: 313-319.
3. Wetherell MA and Carter K. The multitasking framework: The effects of increasing workload on acute psychobiological stress reactivity. Stress Health 2013; epub, ahead of print.

Parenting effects on sleep duration

A recently published study showed some interesting statistics about how parenthood affects sleep.

The study, conducted in Wisconsin USA, focused on how working parents sleep at different stages in their children’s lives. It’s no surprise that parents of young children (under age 2) lost the most sleep. What may be a bit surprising is the amount of sleep these parents lost, only an average of 13 minutes per day for each child under the age 2! Parents lost on average 9 minutes of sleep per day for each child aged 2-5 years.  Keep in mind that this is an average! Parents may lose an hour of sleep one night and lose no sleep for the next 3 nights. Based on the results of this study, the researchers report that raising a child from birth through age 18 results in a loss of about 645 hours of sleep.

Other outcomes noted were daytime sleepiness and dozing off during daytime activities. Both of these were more common in parents of children over age 2.

While this study may not seem to describe the very real sleep deprivation you may be feeling as a new parent, it does show how research and reality can differ at times! The limitation in this particular study is that the sleep duration was self-reported by the parents. The authors admit that sleep is often over estimated in these cases, so the amount of sleep lost per child may be under estimated in this study.

What do you think about the results of this study?

 

Reference

Hagen EW, Mirer AG, Palta M, Peppard PE. The Sleep-Time Cost of Parenting: Sleep Duration and Sleepiness Among Employed Parents in the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study. Am J Epidemiol 2013 Feb 1.

New Study: The effect of maternal napping mother-child interactions

The recommendation to “sleep when your baby sleeps” may have additional benefits than just helping parents feel more rested. A recent study examined the association between maternal napping postpartum and mother-child interactions. There were 2 goals of this study. The first was to describe postpartum mothers’ sleep patterns at about 5 months postpartum. The second was to see if maternal napping positively affected mother-child interactions. Even though the study itself was small, with 23 mothers of babies averaging about 5 months of age, the results are intriguing. Here are the findings:

Findings: Postpartum Sleep at 5 months 

• Mothers were awake an average of 49 minutes per night after they fell asleep for the night.  
• Among the 23 mothers, 57% napped, and of those who napped, they did so 2.3 times per week on average.
• Over 60% of this group reported clinically significant symptoms of fatigue during the day.
• Napping frequency was not different between mothers who stayed home vs. those that worked full- or part-time.

 Note: mothers on sleep aids or with more than one child were excluded from this study.

Mother-Child Interactions

Mother-Child Interactions were measured using the NCAST (Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training) Teaching Scale. Mother-infant pairs were observed for communication and interaction skills based on this teaching scale, which includes assessment of sensitivity to infant cues, responses to infant’s distress, and cognitive growth fostering.

Findings: Postpartum Napping and Mother-Child Interactions 

More frequent maternal naps were associated with “greater engagement in cognitive growth and fostering behaviors with their infant,” better scores on NCAST subscales “cognitive growth fostering” and higher overall scores on the NCAST tool compared to mothers who didn’t nap. What does this mean? Mothers who took more frequent naps had more quality interactions with their infants than those who did not take any naps.

So, what does this mean for new parents? Even a few naps per week when you are significantly fatigued can be help promote more positive interactions with your baby! The authors also suggest that scheduling weekend naps may be useful for mothers that cannot nap during the week.

Past blog posts on napping:

Benefits ofnapping, timing of naps, duration of naps (Part 1)

Part 2- Tips for getting the mostout of your naps

Reference:

Ronzio CR, Huntley E, Monaghan M. Postpartum Mothers' Napping and Improved Cognitive Growth Fostering of Infants: Results From a Pilot Study. Behav Sleep Med. 2012 Jan 18. [Epub ahead of print]

Weighing the Pros and Cons of Napping (For YOU, not your baby!) Part 2.

By Jennifer Goldbronn, MAS, RD

Last time, we shared the pros and cons of napping for sleep deprived parents. In this post, we’ll share the realities of fitting a nap into your schedule and some tips to get the most out of your naps.

The Reality of Napping

In a study of napping patterns of new mothers, opportunity was significantly related to whether or not the mothers took naps. Moms who had more children and/or worked more took fewer naps (obviously!)(Cottrell 2002) Yes, it’s hard to find time to nap, and yes, you have a thousand other things to do while your child is sleeping. However, incorporating a short nap into your day may drastically improve your ability to function when your nighttime sleep is fragmented. Involve your support people in caring for your other children or taking over a few of your chores so that you have opportunities to rest or nap, especially in your baby’s first 6 weeks, or whenever your baby’s sleep patterns are especially challenging for you. If you can’t fall asleep, even resting for a short period can help you feel better. One study found that 1 hour of resting, even without sleep, improved mood (Note: this study did not include people who were recently sleep deprived). (Daiss et al.1986)

Tips for Napping

To get the most out of a "power nap," follow these tips paraphrased from sleep expert Sara C. Mednick, PhD: assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego.

• Keep a regular nap schedule. The best time to nap for most people is between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

• Don’t sleep too long. If you sleep longer than 30 minutes, you might wake up groggy.

• Try to sleep in a dark place. If you block out light by darkening the room or wearing an eye mask, you will fall asleep faster.

• Use a blanket to stay warm. Your body temperature will drop as you sleep and you don't want to lose precious nap time because you start to get cold!

As much as you may think that napping is impossible, sleep deprivation is not something to take lightly. Ask your partner to trade off with you; one of you can take a nap while the other watches the baby. Even 30 or 40 minutes of nap time can make a big difference while your baby is still young.

References

Cottrell L, Hildebrandt Karraker K. Correlates of nap taking in mothers of young infants. J. Sleep Res. 2002; 11: 209–212.

Milner CE, Cote KA. Benefits of napping in healthy adults: impact of nap length, time of day, age, and experience with napping. Journal of Sleep Research. 2009;18 (2):272–281.

Montgomery-Downs HE, Insana SP, Clegg-Kraynok MM, et al. Normative longitudinal maternal sleep: the first 4 postpartum months. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2010;203:465.e1-7.

Tietzel, A. J. and Lack, L. C. The short-term benefits of brief and long naps following nocturnal sleep restriction. Sleep. 2001; 24: 293–300.

Lumley M, Roehrs T, Zorick F, Lamphere J, Roth T. The alerting effects of naps in sleep-deprived subjects. Psychophysiology. 1986; 23: 403–408.

Daiss, S. R., Bertelson, A. D. and Benjamin, L. T. Napping versus resting: effects on performance and mood. Psychophysiology. 1986;23: 82–88.