Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Sleep disturbance, anxiety and irritability have made things difficult for the mother of class 4 student at a city school.
Though she sets alarm for getting up at 4 am, she keeps waking up frequently at night, fearing that alarm may fail to waken her up. The result is that the working woman, in her thirties, feels fatigued and irritable the whole day. She is suffering from anxiety.
Another 35-year-old woman who teaches at a leading school in the city, is unable to focus on her work. She yawns in her class and shouts at students. Her son studies in the same school and both the mother and the son have to get up early in the morning to catch bus.
Psychiatrists have received many such cases. Classes of primary students begin at 7 am in most private schools and the parents have to get up at 5 am or even earlier to get the kids ready and drop them to bus stops or their schools.
According to psychiatrist Dr Ruma Bhattacharya, summer vacations changed the routine of most parents. “They began sleeping around past midnight, spending their time watching TV or checking their mobile phones. Now that they have to force themselves to get up early, they are facing problems,” she said, adding that she received many such cases.
“In many cases, teachers have to reach place from where school buses start picking up children. This means that they have to get up earlier, creating more problems for them,” Dr Bhattacharya added.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Satyakant Trivedi said, “Sleep deprivation can have serious consequences. It may make you anxious, irritable and incapable of concentrating on anything.”
According to Dr Trivedi, many parents have consulted him with similar complaints in last few weeks. “I discovered that the root cause was sleep deprivation born out of need to get up early in the morning to send children to school. Children and school bus drivers face the same problem.
Dr Bhattacharya said one should follow old saying, ‘Early to bed and early to rise..’ Parents should ensure that they and their kids get at least eight hours of sleep, she added.
