Are your children getting enough sleep?
Expert View: Are your children getting enough sleep?
We fret when our mobiles are not fully charged. Dr Amrita N Shamanewadi MD, PGDFM shares her views on sleep hygiene and its importance in shaping kids’ health. She is associated with Trawello Healthcare (healthykid.in) as part of their Expert Panel “Sleep is the power source that keeps your mind alert and calm. Every night and at every nap, sleep recharges the brain’s battery.” – Marc Weissbluth, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.
Sleep is a vital part of your child’s health, just like proper nutrition and exercise. A person should have sufficient, age appropriate amount of uninterrupted sleep. Sleep helps to develop proper mental and physical health of children and to restore all the resources which a child’s brain utilizes the whole day. A person who sleeps well is alert, has good concentration, energy and better problem-solving capability.
Circadian rhythm (body clock) is a 24-hour cycle that tells child’s body when to sleep. As your child grows, the amount of required sleep reduces. National Sleep Foundation recommends 9-11 hours of sleep for children aged 6-13 years. Similarly, for children of 14-18 years, 8-10 hours of continuous night sleep is required.
Circadian rhythm (body clock) is a 24-hour cycle that tells child’s body when to sleep. As your child grows, the amount of required sleep reduces. National Sleep Foundation recommends 9-11 hours of sleep for children aged 6-13 years. Similarly, for children of 14-18 years, 8-10 hours of continuous night sleep is required.
There are 2 different types of sleep – Rapid eye movement sleep (REM) and Non- REM. REM sleep occurs 90 minutes after falling asleep. Non – REM sleep has 3 stages. First stage lasts for several minutes of relatively light sleep. Second stage is a period of light sleep just before entering deep sleep. Stage 3 is the period of deep sleep needed to feel refreshed in the morning.
Let’s review how parents can maintain their kids sleep hygiene:
• It is important to stick to fixed daily sleep time, even on weekends. Extra sleep during weekend does not compensate for sleep loss during weekdays.
• Children can sleep in the afternoon for a couple of hours. Afternoon does not compensate for reduced night sleep.
• A pre-bed routine will help in falling asleep quickly.
• Comfortable mattress and quality pillow support good sleep. Room temperature, ambient lighting and sound should be conducive.
• Encourage your children to disconnect from gadgets at least half an hour before bedtime.
• Ensure a gap of atleast 3 hours between dinner and bedtime.
• Parents can monitor the kid’s sleep quality using wearable such as Fitbit/smartwatch.
Sleep is vital but neglected component for a person’s overall health and well-being. As the famous saying rightly says “Early to bed, early to rise makes a person healthy, wealthy and wise ?. Encourage your kids to sleep early and have a proper amount of sleep. So, let’s all improve our sleep habits and make sleep a priority.
D. Amrita N S