According to scientific research, a sound sleep of 8 – 10 hours is mandatory to maintain a healthy lifestyle. People who don’t get enough sleep go through many health problems. An adequate sleep pattern helps your children’s brain and body grow in a better way. Therefore, children’s sleep issues are crucial and must be dealt with appropriately.
It is commonly important for both adults and children to have a good sleep cycle. This article is a must to read for parents who face their children’s sleep issues.
Importance Of Having A Good Sleeping Pattern
Why is it important for school-age children to have better sleep to resolve children’s sleep issues?
School-age children need to have adequate sleep to prevent themselves from getting into children’s sleep issues. Following are the few reasons why school-age kids must have better sleep cycles.
1. Sleep Promote Growth and Development
Little children sleep for long hours; this helps related hormones to secrete during their sleep for their mental and physical health and growth. Likewise, adequate sleep promotes the growth of both the brain and the body of a school-going kid.
2. Makes you Active
Having proper sleep makes your kid active, and he can participate in healthy activities more proficiently. He will be able to indulge in classroom activities entirely.
3. Sleep Helps to Protect Heart
Your body secretes the stress-controlling hormone, cortisone, during sleep which protects you from vascular damages and strengthens your heart. Lack of sleep causes less secretion of this hormone and, in turn, causes a threat to your heart. Children with sleep disorders have excessive brain arousal during the night, which can trigger fight response countless times each night. All this applies to the school-going kids as well. So, a night of sound sleep helps the school-going kids maintain better health of their hearts.
4. Sleep Affects Weight
There is countless evidence that children who have little sleep can become overweight. Eating activities play a handsome role in this regard. “Over time, kids who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to be obese,” says Dorit Koren, M.D., a pediatric endocrinologist and sleep researcher at the University of Chicago.
5. Makes You a Quick Learner
A school-going kid who gets deserved sleep turns out to be a quick learner both at school and home. He adapts to the behavior very rapidly and efficiently. His brain tends to be more active all the time as compared to children with sleep issues.
6. Sleep Reduces Injury
It is evident that children who do not get proper sleep are more prone to injuries. Having little sleep makes them dozy and more impulsive, setting them up for accidents. According to one research, “91 percent of kids who had two or more injuries in a 12-month period got fewer than nine hours of sleep per night”.
7. Poor Sleep Reduces Creativity
When your brain is active and fresh, one can achieve creativity, bringing many new ideas and stuff to your children. Research has found that poor sleep can harm creativity. Sleep deprivation can also detract from school performance because of various effects on mood and behavior.
8. Aggression
Some children can have highly aggressive behavior if they do not take proper sleep which may be problematic for parents as well as can impact their whole personality. Aggression in children can destroy their overall growth and academics too. Even grown-ups also get irritated if they don’t get sound sleep, this clearly indicates why sleep is important for children too.
What are the Common Causes Behind Children’s Sleep Issues in School-Age Children?
There are so many factors that lead to sleep deprivation in school-age kids. Some of the most common factors include:
1. Lack of Priority Given to Sleep
Children and their parents may fail to provide enough time to sleep every night. Instead, they give more time to games, studies and social activities.
2. Excessive Use of Gadgets
It is common in children and adolescents to use cellphone, tablets and laptops in the evening. Surfing time on social media, chatting with friends and playing games are potent causes of sleep deprivation.
3. Irregular Sleep Schedules
Serious fluctuations in bedtimes and wake-up times can make it tougher to establish a steady sleep cycle. Irregular sleep cycles lead to deprivation of sleep in children. Children sleep issues can get resolved if parents eradicate such inconsistencies.
4. Sleep Disorders
Children with inadequate sleep issues can lead to issues like insomnia and other breathing disorders which may result in having nightmares and sleepwalking.
How to Build a Better Bedtime to Reduce Children’s Sleep Issues?
From early on, there is plenty that parents can do to help their children grow and fall in love with sleep. Check out some of these methods:
1. Formulate a Solid Routine
Children should have a solid routine of sleep. In three-month-old kids, the bedtime rituals must not last longer than 30 – 40 minutes. And for kids of age around ten years, make sure their bedtime is sharp 9:00 p.m. According to recent studies, children who go to bed after nine at night take a longer time to fall asleep.
2. Set the Stage
Set the stage for sleep. This includes setting the temperature and level of lights in your room so that your kid can become familiar with such an environment, making them easy to fall asleep quickly.
3. Refrain from Gadgets
Before going to bed, it is advisable to leave all the gadgets behind and not use them while you are in bed for a good sleep cycle. Just 2 hours of use of gadgets right before sleep lowers the level of melatonin (a chemical which occurs naturally at sleep) by 22 per cent. Take tab on their screen time, excess screen time can affect their eyesight as well.
4. Add Bedtime Stories to Solve Children’s Sleep Issues
Parents know that reading can help kids learn. On the contrary, telling stories to your children is an excellent way for them to go to their dreamland. Kids go to sleep quickly when listening to stories.
5. Always Run Sleep Audit of your Children to Prevent Children’s Sleep Issues
It is always important to measure your child’s sleep cycles, especially if you witness any unusual behavior or trouble signs. It will give you an idea about your children’s sleep cycle which you can utilize to enhance their performance.
Parents must support their children to achieve higher ranks in their schools. Having an adequate and proper sleep is mandatory for this task. Children who rest sleep properly can be high achievers in their academic and extracurricular activities. This can also minimize the risk of children sleep issues. Parents must discuss the benefits of sleep and sleeping habits with their children to encourage them to acquire better sleep. Studies have found that children sleep well when their parents set a bedtime.
