> Research has shown that sleep is important for both mind and body. Sleep is vital for learning and memory and long-term sleep deprivation can lead to depression, compromised immune function and other chronic health problems.
As the father of three under 5, I can testify this is absolutely correct(!)
It's most apparent in young children. Children generally behave fine when they get good sleep and become monsters when they have just a few less hours. Often being overtired becomes a feedback loop where they refuse to sleep and then become even more exhausted.
I'm always getting angry that most countries force many kids to be sleep deprived for ~12 years. I was one of them. I just can't operate properly before 10a.m. and even if I'm super tired it's very difficult to fall asleep before 1a.m. Furthermore my body wants 8-9 hours of sleep.
Research has shown it's not entirely possible to shift our inner rythm, so I really hope (more) schools start offering different timeslots for classes to start. I'm also confident there are enough teachers who willingly start two or four hours later and with flex time enough parents who happily bring their kids 2 or 4 hours later.
Then it can be spoofed, right? Most of us don't get sufficient sunlight exposure. I use a light therapy machine in the morning and try to spend time outside. Presumably in this modern age the efficient range for our circadian rhythms is a wide one.
There should be no reason to be overtired so your body reacts by keeping you awake to deal with it until the stressful events are over but this is stressful by itself. And modern city life has no shortage of stress.
Considering both the increased risk of mortality and undernutrition for a birth earlier than 36 months and the great number of births that occur with such short intervals, the author recommends that mothers space births at least 36 months. However, the tendency for increased risk of neonatal mortality for births with intervals of 60 or more months leads the author to conclude that the optimal birth interval is between 36 and 59 months. This information can be used by health care providers to counsel women on the benefits of birth spacing.
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If this is what is meant by 3 year rule, then in my opinion, this is utter nonsense. Having the 3 youngins play and bond together at a similar age is why we deliberately had them as close as possible. Its great to see the bonds develop.
It’s not nonsense. It’s optimizing on a different metric than the metric you chose. Do you have some evidence that being one or two years apart bonds siblings better than being three+ years apart?
My sister and I are three years apart and we definitely always had a strong bond. I can’t imagine a year or two would have made a difference. Our other siblings are as far as decades apart from us and we are less close (still close though), but we also didn’t grow up together - my sister and I had already flown the coop. I’d guess there are some limits in between there, but it’s just a guess.
As the father of three under 5, I can testify this is absolutely correct(!)