At every well visit I ask my patients about how they are sleeping. Every summer I get lots of answers about trouble sleeping. It has been much worse this summer because of the end of in person school in March so most kids have not had to get up for anything for months.
For most people (but especially teenagers) our body clock wants us to stay up late and then sleep in late. What happens when you sleep in later is that you cannot fall asleep early the next night. It is like changing time zones. Add in the relaxing of rules and available electronics and I have found lots of my patients staying up most of the night and then sleeping most of the day. This is problematic for a number of reasons. For one, if your child has to get up early for something they will be tired and cranky. Second, nutrition suffers. If you sleep through several day time meals you then are hungry at night and end up eating a bunch of junk food instead. Third, it is hard to fall asleep like many of my patients complain about. Fourth, what are your kids doing all night long while you are sleep. Who are they talking to on the internet? Or, what are they watching?
We (including adults) all feel our best if we are on a regular sleep schedule. When there is a long break from school it is ok if the schedule is a little later than usual but we all need a regular bedtime and a regular time to get up. To start out decide what time you want your child to get up. Then count back about 10 hours before that (9 hours for high schoolers) and then you have your bedtime. Every one is different so your child might need a little more or less than this amount of time but it is a good place to start. To get to this point you have to gradually start waking your child up earlier each morning and then a day or two later start having them go to bed earlier. If you try to just have them go to bed earlier they will not be able to fall asleep because they slept in. Once you have them on the schedule you want keep them on it. Do not let your school age child nap. If they need a nap it will interfere with their bedtime. Instead move their bedtime earlier if they are taking naps when they are not sick.
If you child has electronics (tablet, phone, TV, video games) in their bedroom it can interfere with their sleep. It is recommended to get them out of the bedroom before bedtime. Some families create a charging station somewhere else in the house and have everyone turn in their devices at a certain time. For things that can't be removed such as TV or gaming station you can take away controllers and the remote at a certain time. I would recommend that the family sit down together to make a media plan. If the kids have some input they are more likely to agree to the rules. Here is a link to help make a media plan. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/media/Pages/default.aspx#planview
If these things are not helping and your child is still having sleep problems please make an appointment to see us to discuss it further.
No comments:
Post a Comment