Pakistan 2015: Helping Hands Foundation: Institute of Mother & Child Care

World Sleep Day celebrated at the Institute of Mother & Child Care—13 March 2015.

The World Sleep Day is celebrated every year to underscore the importance of sound and deep sleep for the health & well being of the people. This is celebrated, every year, in the 2nd week of March under the auspices of World Sleep Association. This year the slogan of the day was “When Sleep is sound, health & happiness abounds”. The Institute of Mother & Child Care (I-MACCA) is actively busy in community empowerment for health issues. As the sleep issue is very important for the mothers & children alike, so as per motivation of Dr. Ghulam Mustafa, Associate professor of pediatrics & chairman Helping Hands Foundation, we decided to celebrate the World Sleep Day.

The World Sleep Day was organized to educate the community about sleep disorders; their prevention and how to establish better sleep habits in mothers & their children.

Location:
I-MACCA – A Project of Helping Hands Foundation

Time: 10:00 am -12:00 noon

Facilitators:
Ayesha Waheed (CATCH Manager) was pivotal to arrange this activity under the guidance of Dr. Ghulam Mustafa, chairman Helping Hands Foundation.

Goals:
The goals for our World Sleep Day Celebrations were as follow:
* To highlight important issues related to sleep.
* Prevention & management of sleep disorders
* Motivate Mothers for establishing better sleep habits

Resources:
A graphic and effective PowerPoint presentation was used to convey the message.

Attendance:
We were particularly proud of the effort to reach out to the female community in the region. We were excited to note that more than half of the attendees were new comers.

Results:
We kicked off the fiesta with a presentation from Ayesha Waheed, who is the CATCH Manager at I-MACCA. The presentation had an input from the chairman HHF, Dr. Ghulam Mustafa, and included the sleep aspects of mothers & children. For your eyeball pleasure, I’ve included the pictures below with a brief description of what was covered.

Ayesha talked about the effects of sleep deprivation on our body and behavior. She shared tips and tricks on overcoming sleep disorder and establishing good sleep habits in young children. The speaker emphasized on the fact that each individual’s sleep vary and the need for sleep doesn’t decline with age but the ability to sleep for six to eight hours at one time may be reduced.

Reaction:
Audience feedback boosted our spirits. They not only appreciated the information parted but vowed to establish good sleep habits in their children. The importance of sleep and factors that can disturb night’s sleep were noted down with zest.

Following are few important high learning points shared:
* A sound sleep is necessary for a healthy mind and body.
* Sleep deprivation can lead to number of health and psychological issues.
* Keeping a regular sleep/wake schedule assists in getting a good night sleep.
* Good habits start early.
* Seek medical advice for serious sleep related problems.

pic1 pic2 pic3