Hello Everyone,

We have all been there. Our kids woke up repeatedly during the night, we had a hard time going to sleep worrying about work the next day, or we decided that we wanted to watch just one more show on TV. There can be many reasons why we don’t get a good night sleep. You may have also experienced that the next day can certainly be more challenging. You may be slow to get the day started and are running behind and your mind might not be as quick as it usually is. All of which can be stressful and motivation and energy seems to be low. Moreover, you may feel yourself getting irritated easily. You are certainly not at your best.

The same is true for our kids. Without a good nights sleep school can be a real challenge. Research into sleep shows that over time, insufficient sleep impacts how a child feels, behaves and interacts with others and their world. Insufficient sleep can lead to challenges regulating their emotions and bodies, including increased hyperactivity and stress. Moreover, research has shown that an inability to regularly get the recommended sleep can lead to a decrease in one’s overall mental health.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you know?

  • 1 in 4 children do not get the recommended sleep at night.
  • 1 in 3 children have trouble going to sleep or staying asleep
  • 1 in 5 children have difficulty staying awake during waking hours

So, how much sleep should our children be getting? Well, it depends on their age. For school aged children the recommended sleep time is 9-11 hours for children aged 5-13 years old and 8-10 hours for adolescents aged 14-17 years of age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tips to help your child increase the quality and quantity of their sleep:

Establish a regular bedtime routine…..even on weekends

A child’s internal clock helps them to get sleepy and feel awake at specific times during the day.  If you allow your child to sleep in on the weekends, that will make it more difficult for your child to wake up at the regular time during the school week.  Similarly, if you allow your child to stay up late at night on weekends, they will have a harder time falling asleep at the regular bed time on school night.

Don’t do Anything Energizing Close to Bed

You want the child to relax, not get energized right before bed. So, wrestling, watching movies, and other high stimulation activities close to bedtime may make falling asleep more difficult.

Screen time 

Research has shown that screen time immediately before bed can result in sleep difficulties. Too much screen use (i.e. television, computer, mobile phone, video gaming device) in children has consistently been shown to delay bedtime and result in a shorter total sleep time. Exposure to bright light from television or computer screens close to bedtime may interfere with the body’s normal sleep-wake cycle by suppressing the production of the hormone melatonin. Using screens near bedtime (1 hour before) is also associated with poor sleep quality and daytime sleepiness.

Teach your Child how to Self-Soothe and fall Asleep Independently

Many parents  have different sleep goals here. So, this tip is applicable if your family sleep goal is independent sleep. If your goal is to have your child sleep in his/her own bed, then you need to help your child learn how to fall asleep without you present. If you are always present when your child falls asleep at night, your child will begin to depend on your presence to help him/her to fall asleep. Instead, put your child to bed when he/she is sleepy but has not yet fallen asleep and leave your child’s room before he/she falls asleep. This allows your child to associate sleepiness with their bed and also allows your child to learn to self-soothe.

Daily Physical Exercise 

Regular physical activity has a positive effect on sleep quality, including improving the time spent asleep versus awake in bed, decreasing the number of times children wake up each night, and increasing how rested they feel the next day.

Healthy Food and Beverages

Drinking caffeinated beverages can negatively affect children and adolescents’ sleep by increasing the time it takes them to fall asleep and decreasing the amount and quality of sleep they do get. Caffeine-containing drinks commonly consumed by children include pop, iced tea, and energy drinks.

Sleep challenges can be quite complicated. If you and your child are having difficulties meeting your sleep goals, reaching out to a family physician or counsellor who can assist you in your specific challenges might be an appropriate next step. If you would like help connecting to a therapist who specializes in sleep hygiene (high quality sleep) I would be happy to have a conversation with you and connect you to a trained sleep therapist. If you are curious the degree to which you have a sleep challenge, as well as what might be contributing to these challenges, a sleep diary may also be helpful. Logging the quantity and quality of your sleep over a 1-2 week period, as well as some other common contributing factors, can be very helpful in highlighting patterns and potential challenges to high quality sleep (eg. My child doesn’t get as much sleep on Mondays – may lead you to look at sleep habits on the previous weekend etc.)

Sleep Diary – Click here

There are LOTS of tips and tools for helping with sleep. Consulting a trained sleep expert is often a good step if healthy sleep habits are challenging to achieve. Some other sleep resources are:

 

My daughter and I made Good Night Yoga part of her sleep routine! She loved it and it was a great bonding experience.