Almost half of all Australian children missing key targets
Nearly half of all Australian children are not meeting key developmental milestones by the time they start school, according to the latest Australian Early Development Census.
The study which surveyed more than 250,000 children and over 16,000 teachers found that only 53 per cent of children are on track for physical, emotional, social and communication targets.
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News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
Reason why we're all waking up at 3am now and how to stop
If you've ever found yourself wide awake at 3 or 4am, you're far from alone. Google searches for 'waking up at 3am' are on the rise, and TikTok videos about the topic are attracting tens of thousands, sometimes millions, of likes and views. Explanations for these early morning wake-ups range from the spiritual to the scientific, with experts highlighting the role of hormonal changes, specifically, increased cortisol levels, in waking up during the night. Expert advice on sleep hygiene Olivia Arezzolo, a leading Australian sleep expert, explains that pre-bed routines are crucial for getting quality sleep. 'Late-night scrolling on Instagram and TikTok is a major factor disrupting sleep for Gen Z and Millennials,' she tells Ms Arezzolo notes that both bedtime habits and sleep environment can significantly affect your chances of sleeping through the night, or finding yourself awake in the early hours. Improving sleep quality According to Ms Arezzolo, the following factors can help improve your sleep quality and quantity: – Avoid blue light after 9:30pm at the latest. This reduces melatonin suppression caused by blue light (dim lights, turn off screens and devices, use blue light-blocking glasses). – Take a warm shower. This promotes melatonin synthesis due to the drop in core body temperature. – Have 30 minutes of tech-free time where you read, meditate, or journal. – Take a natural sleep supplement to support deeper, more restful sleep. – Finish dinner before 7pm. This ensures the body can enter deeper sleep faster, rather than actively digesting food. – Avoid caffeine after 2pm. – No alcohol She particularly stresses the importance of monitoring your caffeine intake, as this can help you fall asleep and actually stay asleep. 'As it can be active for 8+ hours after ingestion, a 2pm cut-off is essential for long, deep, and restful sleep,' she explains. Alcohol is also a significant contributor to those 3am wake times, as it disrupts REM sleep. If sleep optimisation isn't enough … However, other experts warn that if you're optimising your environment for sleep and still waking up at 3am, your problems could be related to something deeper, like stress. Scientists have discovered that cortisol (the stress hormone) naturally begins to rise in the early hours of the morning, typically between 2am and 3am. This is part of the body's preparation for waking up and is considered a normal part of the circadian rhythm — the body's natural process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. For those with regular cortisol levels, this rise would occur gradually, allowing you to wake up at your usual time in the morning. However, for people experiencing elevated levels of stress, anxiety, or worry, baseline cortisol levels may be heightened, according to The Cleveland Clinic. The natural early morning surge can then push these levels higher, activating the sympathetic nervous system (the fight-or-flight response), which makes it more likely that you will wake up and have difficulty falling back asleep. To put it simply, if you're more stressed than usual, your body will likely produce more cortisol during the night, leading to those abrupt wake-ups. The science of sleep and stress A 2024 longitudinal study published in SLEEP also found that higher pre-sleep cortisol levels activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, leading to increased cortisol and physiological arousal that disrupts sleep. To add insult to injury, this stress-sleep relationship is bidirectional — meaning that not only does stress lead to sleep interruptions, but poor sleep can also heighten stress responses, creating a cycle that exacerbates the problem. What to do when you wake up at 3am If you do find yourself awake in the wee hours of the morning, experts agree there are a few things that can help you go back to sleep: – Get out of bed and do something relaxing – this can trick your brain into associating your bed with sleeping, rather than being awake. When you feel tired, you can get back into bed. – Try reading a book, listening to a guided meditation, relaxing music, or sleep sounds. – Practice deep breathing exercises or progressive muscle relaxation techniques. – Try not to worry too much about sleep – worrying can keep you awake. – Avoid looking at your phone or other electronic devices — the light can interrupt melatonin production, preventing you from going back to sleep. In terms of preventing these nightly wake-ups altogether, it's important to manage your overall stress levels. Incorporate more stress management techniques into your week, such as breathwork, exercise, and time in nature – or speak to a professional for further support.
SBS Australia
10 hours ago
- SBS Australia
Football and brain health - new findings on how heading affects athletes
Football and brain health - new findings on how heading affects athletes Published 19 June 2025, 9:19 am Heading a soccer ball repeatedly can cause changes in the brain, even without concussion or symptoms. That's the key finding from a world-first Sydney University study, which could help reveal if these changes worsen over time.
The Advertiser
10 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Alarm as destructive tree pest threatens to go national
Biosecurity officials are admitting defeat, saying it is no longer possible to wipe out a destructive species of tree-boring pest from a city's parks. The polyphagous shot-hole borer has proven too tough to handle as the Western Australian government announces it will transition to managing the pest rather than eradication strategies. "The chief plant biosecurity officers from around Australia (initially) determined that eradication was possible," WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis said on Thursday. The southeast Asian native pest was first identified in Perth in 2021 and tunnels into the trunks and branches of a wide range of species, including Australian native paperbarks and eucalypts. The only effective treatment for affected trees is removal with thousands of trees having suffered the fate in Perth parks, including Kings Park and Hyde Park, and many more likely to follow. "Protecting Perth's tree canopy and our valuable horticulture sector from shot-hole borer remains front and centre for WA," Ms Jarvis said. While the insect is confined to the Perth metropolitan area, the news it can no longer be wiped out has horticulture experts concerned about a national spread. "This is tragic news not just for Western Australia, but potentially for native trees, towns and cities, and the horticultural industry across the entire country," Invasive Species Council policy director Carol Booth said. "Hundreds of native species across the country could be at risk if the borer spreads. "The regular arrival of harmful new invaders shows our prevention systems are not strong enough." Dr Booth expressed concern about the impact of the borer on the urban tree canopy, saying risks to habitats and human health were "immense" if the spread was not contained. Thursday's state budget allocated $26.5 million to the amended borer management plan. But the shift in strategy hasn't gone down well on the other side of the political aisle, with the WA opposition saying the minister must go. "Minister Jarvis has admitted she failed to keep Western Australia protected," shadow agriculture minister Lachlan Hunter said. "That is an extraordinary admission of failure, and she should resign." Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas called on Premier Roger Cook to step in should Ms Jarvis refuse to step down. "The premier should stand up, accept responsibility on behalf of the government and sack Minister Jarvis," Mr Zempilas said. Biosecurity officials are admitting defeat, saying it is no longer possible to wipe out a destructive species of tree-boring pest from a city's parks. The polyphagous shot-hole borer has proven too tough to handle as the Western Australian government announces it will transition to managing the pest rather than eradication strategies. "The chief plant biosecurity officers from around Australia (initially) determined that eradication was possible," WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis said on Thursday. The southeast Asian native pest was first identified in Perth in 2021 and tunnels into the trunks and branches of a wide range of species, including Australian native paperbarks and eucalypts. The only effective treatment for affected trees is removal with thousands of trees having suffered the fate in Perth parks, including Kings Park and Hyde Park, and many more likely to follow. "Protecting Perth's tree canopy and our valuable horticulture sector from shot-hole borer remains front and centre for WA," Ms Jarvis said. While the insect is confined to the Perth metropolitan area, the news it can no longer be wiped out has horticulture experts concerned about a national spread. "This is tragic news not just for Western Australia, but potentially for native trees, towns and cities, and the horticultural industry across the entire country," Invasive Species Council policy director Carol Booth said. "Hundreds of native species across the country could be at risk if the borer spreads. "The regular arrival of harmful new invaders shows our prevention systems are not strong enough." Dr Booth expressed concern about the impact of the borer on the urban tree canopy, saying risks to habitats and human health were "immense" if the spread was not contained. Thursday's state budget allocated $26.5 million to the amended borer management plan. But the shift in strategy hasn't gone down well on the other side of the political aisle, with the WA opposition saying the minister must go. "Minister Jarvis has admitted she failed to keep Western Australia protected," shadow agriculture minister Lachlan Hunter said. "That is an extraordinary admission of failure, and she should resign." Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas called on Premier Roger Cook to step in should Ms Jarvis refuse to step down. "The premier should stand up, accept responsibility on behalf of the government and sack Minister Jarvis," Mr Zempilas said. Biosecurity officials are admitting defeat, saying it is no longer possible to wipe out a destructive species of tree-boring pest from a city's parks. The polyphagous shot-hole borer has proven too tough to handle as the Western Australian government announces it will transition to managing the pest rather than eradication strategies. "The chief plant biosecurity officers from around Australia (initially) determined that eradication was possible," WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis said on Thursday. The southeast Asian native pest was first identified in Perth in 2021 and tunnels into the trunks and branches of a wide range of species, including Australian native paperbarks and eucalypts. The only effective treatment for affected trees is removal with thousands of trees having suffered the fate in Perth parks, including Kings Park and Hyde Park, and many more likely to follow. "Protecting Perth's tree canopy and our valuable horticulture sector from shot-hole borer remains front and centre for WA," Ms Jarvis said. While the insect is confined to the Perth metropolitan area, the news it can no longer be wiped out has horticulture experts concerned about a national spread. "This is tragic news not just for Western Australia, but potentially for native trees, towns and cities, and the horticultural industry across the entire country," Invasive Species Council policy director Carol Booth said. "Hundreds of native species across the country could be at risk if the borer spreads. "The regular arrival of harmful new invaders shows our prevention systems are not strong enough." Dr Booth expressed concern about the impact of the borer on the urban tree canopy, saying risks to habitats and human health were "immense" if the spread was not contained. Thursday's state budget allocated $26.5 million to the amended borer management plan. But the shift in strategy hasn't gone down well on the other side of the political aisle, with the WA opposition saying the minister must go. "Minister Jarvis has admitted she failed to keep Western Australia protected," shadow agriculture minister Lachlan Hunter said. "That is an extraordinary admission of failure, and she should resign." Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas called on Premier Roger Cook to step in should Ms Jarvis refuse to step down. "The premier should stand up, accept responsibility on behalf of the government and sack Minister Jarvis," Mr Zempilas said. Biosecurity officials are admitting defeat, saying it is no longer possible to wipe out a destructive species of tree-boring pest from a city's parks. The polyphagous shot-hole borer has proven too tough to handle as the Western Australian government announces it will transition to managing the pest rather than eradication strategies. "The chief plant biosecurity officers from around Australia (initially) determined that eradication was possible," WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis said on Thursday. The southeast Asian native pest was first identified in Perth in 2021 and tunnels into the trunks and branches of a wide range of species, including Australian native paperbarks and eucalypts. The only effective treatment for affected trees is removal with thousands of trees having suffered the fate in Perth parks, including Kings Park and Hyde Park, and many more likely to follow. "Protecting Perth's tree canopy and our valuable horticulture sector from shot-hole borer remains front and centre for WA," Ms Jarvis said. While the insect is confined to the Perth metropolitan area, the news it can no longer be wiped out has horticulture experts concerned about a national spread. "This is tragic news not just for Western Australia, but potentially for native trees, towns and cities, and the horticultural industry across the entire country," Invasive Species Council policy director Carol Booth said. "Hundreds of native species across the country could be at risk if the borer spreads. "The regular arrival of harmful new invaders shows our prevention systems are not strong enough." Dr Booth expressed concern about the impact of the borer on the urban tree canopy, saying risks to habitats and human health were "immense" if the spread was not contained. Thursday's state budget allocated $26.5 million to the amended borer management plan. But the shift in strategy hasn't gone down well on the other side of the political aisle, with the WA opposition saying the minister must go. "Minister Jarvis has admitted she failed to keep Western Australia protected," shadow agriculture minister Lachlan Hunter said. "That is an extraordinary admission of failure, and she should resign." Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas called on Premier Roger Cook to step in should Ms Jarvis refuse to step down. "The premier should stand up, accept responsibility on behalf of the government and sack Minister Jarvis," Mr Zempilas said.
