Sleep

Sleep

by Stephanie Ford McAllister, PA-C

One of the most common conversations I have on a daily basis with patients is about sleep.  Issues with sleep, either from difficulty with falling asleep or staying asleep, can cause a host of issues beyond simply feeling tired the next day. When a child isn’t receiving adequate sleep each night, this can cause or worsen behavioral issues, irritability, difficulty focusing, anxiety, depression and weight gain. By improving a child’s sleep hygiene and thereby increasing the amount of quality sleep a child receives each night, we can expect significant improvement in many life areas.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends the following:

Children 6-12:  9-12 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period

Teenagers 13-18: 8-10 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period.

Here are some suggestions for how to improve your child’s bedtime experience.

Create a Bedtime Routine:

Whether that is showering or taking a warm bath before bed, listening to relaxing music, reading calming books or even kid-friendly relaxation meditations, having a consistent routine is key to teaching the body how to fall asleep easily on a regular basis. Striving for approximately the same bedtime most nights helps keep the body in a regular rhythm. Our bodies function best with routine and consistency. Giving your body a regular night routine helps support that process.

Bed is for Sleep Only:

It is very easy for many teenagers to spend countless hours on their bed, with only a few of those hours being occupied in sleep. Doing homework, watching TV, playing videogames or scrolling on their smart phone while lying in bed all discourage good sleep when the time comes for bed. Our body thrives on external cues and associations. By eliminating any other activity on our bed, we train our brains to associate sleep with lying on our mattress.

Avoidance of Electronics:

It is crucial to cut out screen-time (phones, tablets, computers, TV, videogames, etc) at least one hour prior to bedtime. Screens are stimulating in multiple ways, including prohibiting the body from producing hormones that help with sleepiness as well as increasing mental engagement. I advise families to avoid having any electronics in the child’s bedroom, as the temptation to stay up watching/playing/scrolling is too great. Most children don’t yet have the developed self-discipline and foresight to successfully self-regulate electronic use.  Additionally, recent studies are finding a correlation between the use of social media at bedtime and worsening of anxiety and depression. So support good sleep quality and mental health by cutting out all electronics an hour before bed.

Diet:

It is easy to underestimate the importance of avoiding caffeine too late in the day. However, the effects of caffeine linger on in your system long after the caffeine jitters are gone. The half-life of caffeine is 5-6 hours, which means it takes 5-6 hours for HALF of the caffeine you’ve consumed to be processed from your system. So if your child has a soda or other caffeinated beverage at 3 pm, your body has only processed through half of that caffeine by 8-9 pm. Therefore, if sleep is an issue, do your child a favor and cut caffeine entirely out of the diet or absolutely avoid caffeine after 11 am.

Exercise:

Our bodies are made to engage in physical activity. If the body isn’t physically worn out by the end of the day, it doesn’t always feel the need for sleep. The CDC recommends children ages 6-18 get at least an hour of physical exercise a day. Sometimes that goal can feel initially unattainable for families. Instead of immediately striving for one hour a day, I recommend setting small goals and slowly working up. For instance, start with 15 minutes of exercise four days a week. This can be in the form of riding a bike, jumping on the trampoline, walking the dog, swimming, playing sports, etc. Once this goal has been consistently achieved for a month, increase the time to 30 minutes of exercise four days a week and so on. These habits not only help with improved quality of sleep but also help with mood and general physical health.

Give It Time:

Most importantly, keep in mind that change doesn’t happen overnight (no pun intended). It can take weeks to months to develop habits and to train the body to sleep well. You wouldn’t expect to win a marathon after jogging for five minutes one time. Neither would you expect to lose 50 pounds by eating broccoli at one meal. Major lifestyle changes take time and consistency to develop but lead to lasting success!