Children grow while they sleep: 
The hidden wonders of the night.

We humans are also subject to this growth pressure. The start of a person's life begins with a fusion: shortly after a sperm cell has penetrated a mature egg cell, the chromosomes of the egg and sperm cell meet. After just 30 hours, the fertilised egg divides for the first time - a process that is repeated approximately every 20 hours from then on. Two cells become four, eight and finally 16.

As we all know, growth does not stop after birth. A child continues to grow until puberty comes to an end and the body is "finished". An adult consists of 10 to the power of 14 or 100 trillion or 100,000,000,000,000 individual cells.

But how exactly does this work? What mechanisms take place in the body? And what does all this have to do with sleep?

Children's growth can be divided into four phases. However, a child grows the most before it is born in the womb. Around a third of a child's total growth takes place during these 40 weeks. After birth, there are three further phases:

Infancy (< 1 year): Children's growth is very strong in the first year of life. On average, children grow between 20 and 25 centimetres during this time.

2nd year of life until the onset of puberty: Children's growth continues to slow down in this phase until it levels off at around four to five centimetres per year around the age of nine.

Puberty: During puberty, there is another strong growth spurt, so that children can grow up to twelve centimetres per year. The end of puberty also marks the end of children's growth.

But why do we adults stop growing? Children's bones can grow because they have so-called growth plates. These are cartilaginous ends on the bones. As soon as puberty comes to an end and there are enough sex hormones in the body, these growth plates shrink and eventually ossify. This is why adults are then "grown up".

If growth mainly takes place during sleep, it can be concluded that bones, joints and the spine can only grow healthily and straight if children lie well and straight in bed, even if they are in motion during sleep. The bed must support natural movement during sleep without interfering with sleep. Only in this way can the spine develop in a natural way. If children lie incorrectly, the back problems of an adult arise as a late consequence. A sagging and excessively soft mattress can lead to the development of humps such as ankylosing spondylitis or kyphosis (curvature of the thoracic spine). A mattress or slatted frame that is too hard, on the other hand, promotes the formation of a hollow back. In order to lie straight on a pre-stressed slatted frame, you need a specific body weight, which varies greatly and progresses, especially in childhood and adolescence. Too little movement during sleep is bad for the joints. With viscoelastic mattresses, the body sinks in, which inhibits movement, especially in babies and children.

The optimal sleeping environment is provided by a bed system that adapts to the sleeper irrespective of their weight, size and build. It must provide optimum support for the whole body. This ensures the natural development of the spine and the entire musculoskeletal system, especially in children and adolescents. Children are very light, very flexible and not very sensitive to pressure, so they do not need a thick, heavy mattress, but only a thin latex topper and a duo-wool topper to provide sufficient warmth. This system is suitable from birth or the first big bed up to around 14 years of age. As soon as your child reaches teenage years, you should switch to a thicker mattress to avoid pressure points on the shoulders and hips.