How early is too early? When to see a professional

Many children show signs of a problems at a very young age. Sometimes a preschool teacher will notice something awry and alert the parents. By age five years, after being in preschool and kindergarten, their child may have already shown a pattern of behavior that seems different from his or her peers.

How long should a parent wait to seek guidance? Probably not at all. Life style patterns are established very early in life and the sooner one intervenes the better.

This rule of thumb applies to physical as well as mental health. A recent study reports that 30% of all obese pre-adolescent children are already identifiable by age 5 using only weight and height data. If we could screen the same age child for emotional and learning issues, we might be able to prevent equally serious problems later on.

It's something to think about.

How's Your Sleep?

Americans are among the most sleep-deprived people on earth. We seem to think that we don't need to recharge our batteries and we'll just keep moving at the same speed and with the same capacity as if we are getting 8 hours of sleep per night.

Research tells us otherwise (if we aren't able to think of it ourselves). "Proper sleep is critical for cognitive and daily functioning, and reduced quality of sleep has the potential to exacerbate pre-existing psychological conditions," according to a research abstract presented at SLEEP 2007, the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

We need those hours of sleep to restore our body's equilibrium. What's important is not only the total number of hours slept but also the quality of sleep. Uninterrupted sleep allows us to go through the different phases of sleep, so that we awaken feeling restored and fully cognizant of ourselves and those around us.

When was the last time you felt "restored?"