Crookston – Whether your child has already started school or it’s just around the corner, it’s time to get back into a routine, with one of the most important being your child’s sleep schedule.
“Sleep is a vital need to a child’s health and growth,’ shared Dr. Arveity Setty, pediatrician and medical director of RiverView Health’s Sleep Lab. “Sleep promotes alertness, memory, and performance. Children who get enough sleep are more likely to function better and are less prone to behavioral problems and moodiness.'”
Riverview’s Sleep Lab is accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), the gold standard by which the medical community evaluates sleep medicine facilities. Dr. Setty, certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Sleep Medicine and registered polysomnographic technologists, provides services to patients from birth through the end of life. 5-12 Years Old Statistics show that most children ages 5-12 require 10-11 hours of sleep a night. Following the recommendations below may help your child sleep better and lead to less stressful days.
- Make bedtime the same time every night, weekends included. Your body functions best when you keep a routine.
- Ban electronic devices from the bedroom. Any light emitted from TVs, computers, tablets, video games, and phones will reduce melatonin production, a natural hormone that tells your brain it’s time to sleep. Ultimately, this will affect the sleep/wake cycle and shorten the time spent in a deep and restorative sleep.
- Prepare for bedtime by unwinding first. The 60 minutes before bedtime should be focused on “quiet time’. Too often, social media can cause excitement or too much stimulation that will prolong sleep onset. This time is better used doing relaxing and calming activities to promote sleep onset, not hinder it.
- Don’t let them go to bed hungry. Give your child a light, healthy snack before bedtime, but nothing spicy, sugary, and no caffeine, including chocolate.
- Make sure their bedroom is comfortable. Keep it dark, quiet, and calm, but with enough blankets to keep them warm.
Watch for signs your child might not be getting restorative sleep: Complaints of not being able to sleep (even if it appears otherwise), dark circles under the eyes, poor memory, poor focus, difficulty with learning retention, waking up in the morning, disorganized in the morning, irritability, and meltdowns.
According to the AASM, teens should get 8-10 hours of sleep daily. However, studies have shown that 7 out of 10 high school students fall short of this recommendation on school nights.
Poor sleep can limit a teen’s ability to focus and learn. Additionally, insufficient sleep is associated with an increased risk of chronic conditions such as diabetes, obesity, and poor mental health.
Teens have the unique challenge of a biological shift in their circadian clock (or internal clock), making them struggle to fall asleep before 11 p.m. Many teens stay up late but must wake up early the following day for school. It’s often during the weekend that they try to catch up by sleeping later and longer, which makes it even harder to return to an early morning wake time the following Monday.
Technology often gets in the way of a good night’s sleep for teens, many waking up to check their social media and texts. Staring at a screen right before bed or in the middle of the night can make it harder to fall asleep. The light emanating from the screen can signal your brain to stay awake rather than get ready for sleep.
AASM experts recommend parents take their teen’s tech devices away at night and store them in a separate room so the teen isn’t tempted to check them. Another idea is to have your teen shut their devices off entirely and use a regular alarm clock rather than their phone to wake them in the morning. Try to get your teen to stick to the same sleeping and waking schedule every day of the week.
RiverView’s Sleep Lab Team can help teenagers and their families navigate these issues to promote good sleep health, recommend effective ways to shift the teenager’s circadian clock to suit their school schedule better, and offer ways to optimize the sleep environment. Undiagnosed and untreated sleep disorders may thwart even the best efforts to encourage healthy sleep, so it is critical to screen for primary sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy, insomnia, or restless legs syndrome.
Dr. Setty urges anyone with sleep issues to contact Riverview’s Sleep Lab for help. “Don’t suffer in silence – take the first step towards a better night and sleep.”
For more information on sleep services offered at RiverView Health, talk to your child and primary care provider or call Rehab Services at 281.9463.
