The importance of sleep for children

Sleep. Are you getting enough? More importantly – is your child getting enough??

The holidays are often a time of relaxed rules about bedtimes, later wake-up times, and adjusted rules to do with technology in their bedrooms. But given the school term has just restarted I thought it important to remind parents of the importance of sleep and sleep routines for children.?

There have been some interesting findings about the significance of sleep for children and their families’ wellbeing over the last few years. Let me detail some of them, to convince you of the importance of making slumber a priority in your house.

Sleep helps school performance.?If a child doesn’t get enough sleep, they often find it hard to stay awake in class or take in classroom instruction and be motivated to learn. Because of this, it is no surprise that children who don’t sleep enough tend to not do as well at school as their well-rested peers. Putting effort into getting them to sleep on time may be more important than getting them to do their homework.

Poor sleep is associated with health issues.?Reduced sleep puts children (and adults) at risk of adiposity, which is having more fatty tissue in the body. Adiposity is not only associated with weight gain, but also earlier onset of puberty, sleep apnoea, and joint problems.?

Enough sleep helps reduce some ADHD symptoms.?Parents of children with ADHD can have difficulty getting them to bed. This situation can be improved, via targeted behavioural interventions provided by a psychologist. Research shows that getting children a better quality and quantity of sleep improves some of their ADHD symptoms, such as improved working memory, better behaviour, and better quality of life for the children and their parents.

Their sleep impacts your sleep. Of course, in the very young years, their ability to sleep directly affects their parents’ slumber. But the sleep quality of children up to 10 years old also impact their parents’ slumber, as well as the parent’s mental health.

Add up their daily sleep.?The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has made some watertight recommendations of how much sleep children need. Their advice is clever because the number of hours they recommend are inclusive of children’s naps through the day.?

This is particularly important as there has been solid evidence from QUT, that children’s daytime naps can impact their ability to fall asleep at night. This means that parents need to be mindful that the daytime reprieve of your child’s afternoon snooze might make bedtime more difficult. Hard numbers in the tips below.

How do you get them to sleep? Keep them busy throughout the day. No surprise here, but research shows the more you let them sit around and not be active, the less likely it is that they will feel tired that night.?

But it can go the other way too. A night of poor sleep will mean that they are more lethargic the next day and not as likely to undertake energetic play. This inactivity makes them less likely to sleep well the next night. And so, the vicious circle keeps going.

Break holiday habits.?Try to bring their sleep back to something approximating normal, prior to the holidays ending. To help this along, make them get up earlier in the morning to do energetic activities that they are motivated to do – such as a bike ride, a trip to the beach or a theme park. This should make them a little more tired earlier the next night to break the cycle. If all else fails, the early starts of school should improve things.

Takeaway for parents?

How much sleep is needed? The total sleep time, including naps, is:

·??????Infants 4-12 months need 12 to 16 hours

·??????1 to 2-year-olds need 11 to 14 hours

·??????3 to 5-year-olds need 10 – 13 hours

·??????6- to 12-year-olds need 9 to 12 hours?

·??????Teens up to 18 years old need 8 – 10 hours

·??????Adults need anywhere between 7 and 9 hours of sleep?

·??????Over 65? You might need an hour less.

·??????Worried you aren’t getting there each night? An hour or so less than the above is not an issue but try not to make a habit of it.?

? Judith Locke

This column appeared in the?Sunday Mail?on 30.01.22. Subscribe to the Courier Mail to get access to my column every week. Find more sensible parenting advice in my book,?The Bonsai Child: Why modern parenting limits children and practical strategies to turn it around??or, my latest book,??The Bonsai Student: Why Modern parenting limits children’s potential and practical strategies to turn it around??or have me come to your school to talk to parents and teachers about enhancing child resilience and wellbeing. Contact me?here.