Mums ''miss out on quality sleep''
31/08/2010
Many new mums are getting enough sleep, but the quality of their rest is insufficient, it has been claimed.
Researchers at West Virginia University in Morgantown found women with newborns get just over seven hours rest a night during the first four months.
However, their rest is usually disrupted, the findings seen by Reuters Health show, meaning mums generally feel more tired than they should.
Dr Hawley E. Montgomery-Downs, an assistant professor of psychology at the university, told the news provider that this challenges the traditional perception of new mothers being deprived of rest.
However, she did acknowledge that mums need to top-up their rest somehow, putting forward the suggestion to "nap when your baby naps".
Jacqueline M Brunshaw, director of the psychology department at the Cleveland Clinic Canada in Toronto, recently revealed that bad habits throughout the day are usually responsible for poor sleep.
Posted by Michael Ewing
