Healthy Sleep Escaping You?

Healthy Sleep Tips for Children & Teens

Here are some sleep tips for children and teens. So, there is A LOT of information here. Take the tips that work best for you and your family. Then leave the rest that you don’t need.

Holly Ross’s MOT/OTRL/WSI General Recommendations

·        Avoiding all electronics 45min-60minutes before bedtime. Doing a quiet activity like coloring, reading, taking a bath, or playing quietly with preferred toys is a great way to prepare the body for rest and sleep.

·        Setting up TVs and other electronics to go into “night light mode” around 2 hours before bedtime. “Night time mode” or “amber lighting” eliminates blue light from the screen. Blue light is a natural blocker for the body to start producing melatonin. Starting amber lighting before the bedtime routine starts is a good way to help the natural sleep hormones begin to start working.

·        Keeping a consistent night time routine. Start to prepare the body for sleeping around 30 minutes before bed. Some families do grooming, bathing, and changing into PJs before bed. Some do reading a story or preferred book, then PJs, then lights out. Some even do a warm non-caffeinated beverage, then PJs, then bedtime. There are so many choices and options. Pick the one that works best for you and your child.

·        Below are some additional websites and articles where you can learn more about sleep. Occupational Therapists work with routines a lot! I am happy to help adapt sleep routines to work specifically for you and your child. Direct links are available below with snippets of the articles as well.

Links for Healthy Sleep & Various Articles

from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine 

https://sleepeducation.org/healthy-sleep-vital-childrens-well-being/

“It can be tough to make sure children get a good night’s sleep, but sufficient sleep can improve learning, health and mood. During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthy sleep is especially important for children and teens. More than a third of parents say that online learning due to the pandemic has affected their children’s amount of sleep, according to an American Academy of Sleep Medicine survey.

In a health advisory, Healthy Sleep for Children and Teens in a Pandemic, the AASM encourages positive sleep habits to promote health and well-being in children and adolescents. While it’s been difficult to maintain sleep routines during the pandemic, good sleep behaviors are more important than ever and will have positive outcomes. For quality, healthy, adequate sleep, the AASM offers these recommendations:

• Ensure your child gets enough sleep for their age. That’s 9-12 hours a night for school-aged children and 8-10 hours for teenagers.

• Keep regular bedtimes and wake times, even on weekends.

• Minimize screen time before bed and keep screens out of the sleep environment.

• Ensure regular schedules for activities and exercise, outdoors when possible.

• Maintain regular meal times and encourage a healthy diet.

To further encourage good sleep habits, the AASM is celebrating Student Sleep Health Week Sept. 14-20. More than half of parents with school-age children say they have a child or teen who does not get enough sleep on school nights. Regardless of whether your child is attending school in-person, remotely or some combination of the two, it’s important to prioritize their sleep and break the bad habits that may have arisen during the pandemic.

Sleep is one of the three pillars of a healthy lifestyle, along with nutrition and exercise. Students who get the recommended hours of sleep on a regular basis tend to experience improved attention, behavior, learning, memory, emotional regulation, quality of life, and mental and physical health.”

https://sleepeducation.org/5-ways-to-help-your-child-get-better-sleep/

“5 ways to help your child get better sleep

If parents around the world can agree on anything, it’s this — getting kids to sleep is hard.

A new study involved 10,085 mothers from 14 different countries.  It looked at the effects of what a regular bedtime routine would do for kids who were 5 years old or younger. The results were conclusive. Children with a consistent bedtime routine experienced reduced night awakenings, increased sleep duration, shorter time in bed before falling asleep, and earlier bedtimes. These sleep patterns established early on are more likely to be carried through to adulthood.

But before you can reap the benefits of better sleep, you have to find a routine that will work. Here are a few things you can do to help your child get better sleep:

Stay away from exciting activities at least a half-hour before bedtime. Relaxing activities like brushing teeth, reading and bathing are good ways for your child to wind down from the day. Stress-inducing activities release a chemical in your brain called cortisol, which increases alertness. Eventually, the bedtime routine is going to work both ways, and your child will start asking for a bath or reading time as they get sleepy.

Choose a bedtime — and stick to it. Don’t let the sleep cycle pinwheel spin past the bedtime.  A consistent bedtime throughout the year, including summers and weekends, is important to keep your kid on track. Your child’s internal bedtime clock, also known as the circadian rhythm, partially relies on the cues you’ve set as part of the routine. This is due to the fact that we have a 25-hour biological clock running on a 24-hour cycle. Use our bedtime calculator to find the perfect bedtime for your child based on age and wake time.

Give your child some choice in the matter. They may not have a say in when they have to hit the hay but give your child some freedom.  Letting your child choose which pajamas they want to wear or which book they want to read can make a huge difference in how much of a fight they put up.

Keep it cool. If the bedroom has an extreme temperature leaning toward hot or cold, change the thermostat to a temperature that’s a bit milder. Your core body temperature naturally drops during the night. So a cool room can help promote sleep.  But if a bedroom is too hot or cold, it’s going to wake your child up.

Don’t give in to the last-minute requests. One more book, one more kiss, one more snack — parents have heard it all. Once a kid starts rattling off the list of demands, it may be hard to stop. So put a premeditated halt on it. Work those demands into your child’s bedtime routine.  When it’s lights off, make it clear that everything’s already been checked off on the bedtime list except the last thing: sleep.”

https://sleepeducation.org/set-a-technology-curfew-to-help-your-child-sleep/

“In many homes bedtime can be a battle between weary parents and wound-up kids. Technology may be making this nightly tug of war even harder.

In addition to TV, DVDs, video games and computers, children have new options for interactive media. A survey shows that the percentage of children who are using mobile devices such as smartphones, iPads and other tablets is rising rapidly.

This can be a problem if the devices are used at night. They may stimulate children and increase their alertness, making it harder to fall asleep.

How can sleep compete for kids’ attention in a new era of on-demand media?

Making sure that children have a consistent bedtime is a good starting point. But a bedtime is not enough. It’s time for moms and dads to implement Bed 2.0. In addition to establishing a bedtime, parents need to develop some practical rules for media use in the home. This includes setting a technology “curfew” for media devices and cell phones prior to bedtime.

Parents also should keep the TV and all Internet-connected devices out of a child’s bedroom. It is important for the bedroom to be a calm, quiet retreat from the day’s activities.

It is possible for parents to win the bedtime battle. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine provides these Bed 2.0 tips to help parents reconnect young children with sleep:

• Shield your child from violent or scary media content.

• Keep the TV, computer, video games and mobile devices out of your child’s bedroom.

• Limit your child’s “screen time” in the evening.

• Set a regular bedtime for your child.

• Set a technology curfew at least 30 minutes before bedtime.

• Establish a relaxing bedtime routine with your child.

Talk to a doctor or contact an AASM accredited sleep center if your child has an ongoing or severe sleep problem.”

So, there is A LOT of information here. Some information may be a little contradictory as well. Take the tips that work best for you and your family. Then leave the rest that you don’t need. Parents - Remember YOU are the expert for your children, choose what works best for them along with professional recommendations. YOU DECIDE!