Basic HTML Version
32
The
PLAIN TRUTH
January
1972
using a lot of sleeping pills end up sleeping badly," warns
Dr. William C. Dement, director of Stanford University's
Sleep Disorder Clinic. He says sorne drugs given sleepless
patients suppress rapid eye movement (REM) dreaming, a
vital component of natural sleep, normally occurring about
every 90 minutes.
The Stanford researcher said experiments with volun–
teers showed that interference with REM sleep can cause
mental changes as well as sleep abnormalities. "The person
has nightmares, is overly intense, displays excitability ..." he
said.
He also found that pill-poppers develop a tolerance for
more and more sleeping pills - usually barbiturates -
which can become addicting.
Other unwanted effects of sleep-inducing drugs have
been pointed out by Dr. Julius Sega! of the National Institute
of .Mental Health. "Long after the sedation has worn off, an
impact on your mental and emotional state may remain. Bar–
biturates, for example, may intensify feelings of depression
and reduce intellectual acuity."
How can you get better quality sleep? Medica! author–
ities recommend keeping regular sleep habits - going to bed
about the same time each night and getting up at a regular
time. Also, avoiding stimulants (coffee, tobacco, etc.) and
drugs, exercising daily, and directing your mind away from
anxiety-producing matters at bedtime can help you get a bet–
ter night's sleep. Sometimes a warm bath prior to retiring, or
a warm glass of milk can relieve physical tension and have a
sedative effect.
•
Preparing Your Child for Success
in School
A child's early environment at home has proved to be a
major factor
in
determining his leve! of achievement once he
enters school.
One study has been conducted by Gallup Jnternational
to .find what home factors differentiate between high and
low achievers in school. This study found a high correlation
between success in schocl and being read to at an early age.
Of the advanced readers in the group of first-graders
studied, 79 percent had been read to almost every day, com–
pared to 48 percént of the low achievers. Equally significant
was the time in the child's life when such reading was
begun. Forty-eight percent of the high achievers were read to
at age two
oc
younger.
Parents' interest in reading was also shown to be an
impo.rtant factor. More magazines go into the homes of high
achievers, and news weeklies are twice as likely to be read in
the homes of top students. As might be expected, parents of
higher achievers showed a greater interest in current books.
However, researchers cautioned parents not to take these
findings to mean that any child who is read to regularly will
automatically .find himself at the top of his class. lnstead, the
study indicated that such early reading experience could en–
hance the child's chances of being in the top group.
Teachers' Recommetldations:
In another Gallup study,
first-grade teachers in 261 cities were interviewed. They were
asked what they wished parents would do at home to enhance
the child's educational opportunities.
All the responses pointed up the basic need for parents
to show interest in the child - from birth through pre-school
training. A number of helpful suggestions were given. The
five most common ones were:
l.
Expose children to readi11g and books.
Read
to them more, and begin early.
2.
Talk and listen to yottr child.
Listen to his
experiences; answer his questions; help him build
a vocabulary.
3.
Take the child to piaces of interest .
Take him
to the zoo, to the museum, to lots of places. Ex–
pose him to good music.
4.
Stinmlate the child's interest in leaming.
Try
to develop his curiosity; instill in him the realiza–
tion that Jeacning is fun.
5.
Provide a good family relationship.
Do
things as a family; share experiences with your
child; play and work together as a family.
•
Parents- Leading Teens to
Drug Abuse?
Recent studies indicate there is a direct assoCJatJ.On
between illegal drug use by teen-agers and parents' attitudes
toward prescription and "over-the-counter" drugs. When par–
ents frequently rely on pills and t.tanquilizers for everyday
problems, their children are more likely to be drug abusers,
the studies show.
Dr. Reginald G. Smart of the Addiction Research Foun·
dation, Toronto, Canada, made the following significant find–
ings concerning adolescent and parental drug use, in two
questionnaire surveys of 14,468 Ontario students:
**For every drug investigated, if parents were frequent
users, so were their children.
**If parents were infrequent drug users or non-users,
their children were likely to be non-users.
**Children whose mothers used tranquilizers were more
Jikely to use marijuana, opiates, stimulants, speed, tranquil–
izers, LSD and other hallucinogens, glue and barbiturates.
**The children of mothers who used tranquilizers daily
were three times as likely to smoke marijuana or use LSD or
glue - five times as likely to use stimulants, speed or other
hallucinogens - six times as likely to use opiates - and
seven times as likely to use tranquilizers and barbiturates.
And, the researcher added, "lt should be remembered that a
similar picture could be drawn for mothers and fathers who
were users of stimulants and barbiturates [sleeping pills]."
Two other studies, one in New Jersey involving 12,000
high school and junior high school students and the other in
California, involving 1,300 college students, made similar
discoveries.
The obvious conclusion from these studies is that paren–
tal habits more often than not set the example for children's
actions, knowingly or unknowingly, good or bad. This in–
eludes the drug habit.