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Getting into a back-to-school sleep routine
The countdown is officially on before school starts, and many parents may be wondering how to get their kids back on a sleep schedule after a summer of a disrupted routine.
“I think what we see over the summer is everybody loses their routine and especially with regards to sleep,” said Dr. Indra Narang, a sleep physician at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
Children aged five to 13 years should get an uninterrupted nine to 11 hours of sleep every night, whereas teenagers aged 14 to 17 should get eight to 10 hours of snooze time, according to Canadian guidelines.
However, a Sleep Country survey published on Tuesday found that one in four children is not getting enough sleep, according to their parents. For those respondents who said their children weren’t getting enough shut eye, they cited staying up too late, excessive use of electronic devices and inconsistent bedtimes as the main reasons.
The Canadian parents who were surveyed also reported taking a series of measures to help their children sleep better ahead of the new school year.
These included investing in new pillows, mattresses and beddings, creating a sleep-conducive environment and encouraging children to sleep in their own beds.
Read more about Saba Abiz’s story on how to promote healthy sleep habits for the fall.
Exploring the impact of heat and humidity
Amid the record-breaking heat waves this summer, Global News’ Jeff Semple decided to brave the sizzle inside an environmental chamber at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont.
He wanted to find out how hot is too hot for the human body.
In order to answer this question, Semple was put in a bathroom-sized airtight environmental chamber, where a team of scientists controlled the flow of oxygen, temperature and humidity.
Dr. Stephen Cheung, who runs the lab, told Semple he would spend two hours inside the chamber: the first hour with high dry heat and the second hour with high humidity.
“Heat is bad, but it’s really the humidity that makes things so much more challenging for a body,” Cheung said.
For the first hour, Semple sat in a room that was 35 C with 30 per cent humidity. He felt “warm but still comfortable.”
Then came the second hour. The scientists turned the heat up once again to 35 C, but this time they added a dangerous ingredient: humidity
Read more about what happened next and how humidity and heat stresses impair our cognitive abilities.
— THE TOPIC —
Wildfire smoke and your safety
— WHAT EXPERTS ARE SAYING —
Wildfires broke out in northern and western regions of Canada last week, causing devastation to structures and forcing residents to evacuate.
But even if you’re in an area unaffected by the scorching flames, you may have been confronted by the travelling smoke.
Federal Health Minister Mark Holland spoke about the wildfires Friday at the Canadian Medical Association summit in Ottawa, highlighting the link between poor air quality and health.
“The declining planet with worse air and extreme weather events is going to have incredibly injurious effects on our health-care system. In the Northwest Territories today what are we doing with the folks who have to evacuate and can’t go to health-care providers in their own jurisdiction?”
If you do find wildfire smoke billowing nearby, the first way to protect yourself is to check the Health Canada Air Quality Health Index, Dr. Courtney Howard, an emergency physician in the Northwest Territories who is also a wildfire and health researcher, previously told Global News.
Another way to stay protected is to invest in a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter, she added.
“If you do need to go outside, it is recommended to put on an N95 or KN95 mask,” Howard said. “If you do have a well-fitting mask, it can filter out a majority of the smoke.”
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