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Health & Fitness

Your Child's Sleeping Habits: Normal or Not?

A conversation with Nancy Knop, ET addresses parental concerns regarding their children's sleeping habits as relating to overall health.

How Much Sleep is Normal for Your Children?

In my line of work, I am often asked by parents about sleeping habits of their children and what constitutes “normal” in regards to bed times, wake-up times, napping and too little or too much in terms of slumber patterns. I decided to ask some questions of Nancy Knop, ET, our Summit Center Educational Therapist and sleep expert, for a short primer for parents on these concerns.

Do children and teens require more or less sleep than adults? What is the norm?

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Yes they do require more sleep – very young children and teens more, children and adults less.  The norm is not getting enough.

Here are commonly recommended averages:  preschoolers, 10 hours, elementary years, 8 hours; middle and high schoolers; 10 hours; adults 8 hours. Also, in addition to the recommended hours, sleep must be of good quality, which means that it takes place at regular hours (no weekend shift), without sleep disturbance (due to sleep apnea, snoring, or other sleep problems) and without ambient light or noise (no lights, computers, TVs or disruptive noise in sleeping rooms). 

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Why more during preschool and adolescence? 

Consider the rapid body and brain changes taking place during these years.  We can see the physical changes, but now we know that very significant brain changes also take place well into adulthood.

How do you motivate a teen to get out of bed in the morning?

Research has proven that a blue light says, "wake up,” to a sleeping brain so some research talks about "resetting" alarm clocks using blue light.  The main reason for "sleeping in" is sleep deprivation.  The "teen sleep cycle," i.e. not enough during the week, then 1-3 hours sleep delay on the weekend, is the main culprit.  

I've worked with a few enlightened teens who understand the need for sleep on a regular schedule and recognize the benefits.  Mostly, it's a hard sell to teens, parents, teachers, everybody. 

Are naps good and if so, what can you do to get your kids to take them? Should this even be something that comes with a reward system?

Naps can help, but can also hurt.  This is a "just depends" thing. We evolved to sleep in the dark.  Still, there is evidence about the benefits of controlled napping.

How does sleep affect physical and academic performance?

In profound ways. Physical performance is practiced in sleep.  So is declarative memory. Insight is gained.  Also happiness.  Sleep deprived people retain negative memories and lose positive memories.  Attention disorders may also be dramatically affected by sleep.

How should parents determine bed times?

Back up from wake time.  Of course there will be individual variability in how much sleep is optimum.  For most teens, it's going to be more than they are getting.  The ideal is consistent, sufficient sleep on the same schedule seven days a week.  Few people, teens or adults, are willing to do this.  But if they do, they are distinctly happier.

If your child has sleep issues, check with your family doctor to make sure there isn't a physical cause. Talk to a mental health expert if you have a suspicion that anxiety is, or may be contributing to sleep issues. Parents, remember, you can model appropriate behavior by getting enough sleep every night too.

Dr. Dan Peters, Ph.D., is co-founder of the Summit Center, which provides psychological and educational assessments and counseling for children and adolescents, specializing in the gifted, creative, and twice-exceptional.

 

 

 

 

 

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