How To Ensure Your Children Get Enough Sleep

The Importance Of Having A Daily Routine

A daily routine offers many benefits – it helps us get through the day without thinking too much about the little things.

Even more importantly, it can set the stage for a good night’s sleep, so you and your child will wake up refreshed and ready to start another happy and productive day.

The Benefits Of Routine For Children

Children benefit from structure – they learn what to do and when to do it, how to do things such as brush their teeth, get dressed, solve math problems, and so on.

There is plenty of room for creativity during the 9 AM to 3 PM school day, and in extra-curricular activities.

However, routines help them know what to expect and enable them to feel safe and secure.

Regular mealtimes and regular bedtimes are two of the best ways to keep your children happy and healthy.

How Much Sleep Does Your School-Aged Child Need?

Before we talk about a sleep schedule and sleep routine, it is important to know how much sleep your child needs, and why.

If your child is attending school, assume they need ten to eleven hours of sleep per day, preferably at night rather than naps (which can be hard to get during a school day, and which can disrupt a regular night’s sleep pattern).

There are two stages of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM).

Both are important, but REM is considered to be the most healthful and rejuvenating, allowing people to not feel sleep-deprived and to therefore put in a good performance every day.

Children enjoy about 30% REM sleep in a 90-minute cycle throughout the night – but if they do not sleep long enough, or deeply enough, they can start to become sleep deprived.

Signaling It Is Time For Sleep

A predictable daily routine will help signal it is time for sleep – dinner, homework, a bit of TV and/or computer use, all show it is time to wind down at the end of the day and relax.

The trouble is that when we get busy, these routines can start to suffer, with rushed meals grabbed on the go, too much homework, and the addictiveness of “just 5 more minutes” on a game that turns into another 30 minutes or more.

A bedtime routine should include getting into PJs, brushing teeth, and a few pages of a familiar old book to help your child wind down.

There should be no media in the room – reserve the bedroom for sleep.

And cut down on clutter so they are not distracted.

Make sure the bedding is comfortable and the room at the right temperature (slightly on the cool side is better).

If the long days of summer prevent your child from falling asleep at their regular time, get some blackout curtains.

Keep Up The Routine Every Day

It is okay to relax it a bit once in a while, but in general, try to stick to the same routine every day, even weekends and vacation, because this will cause less confusion to your child’s body clock and make bedtime less of a battle.

Why School-Aged Kids Still Need A Bedtime Story

There are a number of reasons why school-aged kids still need a bedtime story – some are to do with sleep, and others to do with their educational achievements and laying the foundation for a life-long love of books.

Setting A Sleep Routine

School-aged children need about ten to eleven hours of sleep per night.

The trouble is that school work, TV and electronics can get in the way.

However, even small amounts of sleep deprivation can lead to big problems.

Studies have shown that a lack of sleep results in lost productivity, emotional issues, and even accidents – sometimes serious ones.

A daily routine you stick to every day, even at the weekends, can go a long way towards having productive days and getting your child ready for sleep at night.

Evenings should be set up in such a way that they signal the lead-up to sleep. A good dinner, homework, and a small amount of TV or gaming will let them know the end of the day is near.

However, they should not watch or do anything over-exciting for at least an hour before bedtime.

Having a bath or shower, getting into sleepwear, brushing their teeth, and so on, are all signals for your child that sleep is drawing near.

But the biggest lure of getting in bed might actually be the bedtime story.

Reading a bedtime story is a shared activity that can create close family bonds. In addition, stories are ingrained in our culture – we share them all the time in different forms, such as movies and TV.

However, books will also help your child improve their reading skills, add to their vocabulary, and capture their imagination.

They can learn about history, art, nature, sciencem and more through the books you and they choose.

Educational Achievements

Studies show that parents who read to their children regularly are making a significant impact on their child’s educational achievements.

Every subject, even math, relies on your child having good reading and comprehension skills, so even ten minutes of reading six nights a week can add up to an extra hour of teaching and learning.

Just think what you would have to pay a tutor per hour these days, and you can see the time spent reading can be well worth it.

A Love Of Books And Learning

One study argues that parents should continue reading to children up to the age of 11:

Other studies have shown that 66% of six-year olds who were read to expressed a love of books, but the same group of children one year later whose parents had stopped reading to them showed that only 44% expressed a love of books.

In addition to the educational boost, bedtime stories are a great way to lull your child to sleep, and to share experiences and quiet moments with each other, without being on the go all the time.

Chances are children won’t remember every toy you gave them or every video game they played – but they will remember you reading to them every night.

h2>When Should My Child Go To Bed?

With regards to school-aged children, one of the most common questions parents have is when their child should go to bed.

The answer will depend on the age of the child.

In general, school-aged children should get about ten to eleven hours of sleep per night, for a number of reasons.

The Importance Of Sleep

Sleep is essential for all living beings.

In humans, studies have shown that even mild sleep deprivation can have devastating consequences in terms of accidents, as well as poor performance at work, school, sports, and so on.

The Two Phases Of Sleep

The two phases of sleep each have their own role to play in maintaining good health:

1. Non-rapid eye movement (NREM) or “quiet” sleep

   During the deep states of NREM sleep, a number of physical changes take place that can help repair the wear and tear on the body. For example, the blood supply to the muscles is increased, bathing them with essential nutrients.

   Rest allows a person to renew their energy. During NREM, tissue growth and repair will also occur. In addition, important hormones related to healthy growth and development are released.

   There is a connection between sleep and weight, so if you have a chubby child, don’t just look at what they are eating and their levels of activity; also consider how well they are sleeping.

2. Rapid eye movement (REM) or “active” sleep

   During REM sleep, our brains are active and dreaming occurs. REM sleep appears to repair the wear and tear on our brains. Our bodies become stiff and even “paralyzed”. The breathing and heart rate both become irregular.

   This may not sound restful, but it is considered the most important sleep stage for truly restful and rejuvenating sleep.

All people cycle between NREM and REM throughout the night, switching from one to the other – especially if they wake in the middle of the night.

Babies spend around 50% of their time in each state, with a sleep cycle about 50 minutes long. A school-aged child will have 30% REM sleep and the sleep cycle will usually be about 90 minutes.

Sleep Issues To Watch Out For

There are several sleep-stealers to watch out for that can lead to sleep deprivation in your school-aged child if you are not careful:

1. Busyness

   Children tend to skimp on sleep due to homework, extracurricular activities that crunch their schedule, and too much media on the TV and/or gaming on the computer, so make sure your child is not taking on too much every day.

   Set limits on entertainment, and avoid it too close to bedtime, as it may be too stimulating before going to sleep.

   Make sure you have a night-time ritual – getting into pajamas, brushing teeth and so on.

2. Struggling to fall asleep, or stay asleep

   Overly stimulated children will have trouble falling asleep. They might even rebel and refuse to go to bed, demanding to stay up late.

   Some children wake in the night and have trouble falling asleep again. Others sleep in only short bursts, which might result in them never reaching the REM stage, or not staying in it long enough to feel truly refreshed.

   If your school-aged child has sleep issues, try to discover the cause and get them back to a regular routine.

Signs That Your Child Is Overtired

There are a number of ways to tell whether your child is overtired, and spotting them could mean the difference between happiness and harmony, and screaming temper tantrums and meltdowns that will frazzle everyone’s nerves – including your child’s.

Common Sense

The first thing to consider is how much sleep your child is getting.

If they are not getting ten to eleven hours per night, they are probably suffering from sleep deprivation, and this can cause them to be tired – acting cranky, being generally sluggish, and not in the mood for anything, not even food.

They may literally be too tired to eat, or they might become clingy and start to whine or complain.

If you notice any of the following, beware of overtiredness:

• Frequent night wakings
• Lots of small naps through the day as they doze off for minutes at a time
• Nightmares
• Very early wake-ups
• Wanting to stay up late a lot

These are all signs that an erratic sleep pattern is forming, but they can also be signs that your child is not reaching what is termed the REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep, which is considered to be the most restorative and refreshing – particularly for the mind.

Even if your child is not actually sleeping, encourage them to rest in bed.

A collection of their favourite books on the nightstand (nothing too exciting) can help lull them to sleep.

Establish a sleep routine of pajamas, teeth brushing and so on.

Don’t allow media in the bedroom, such as TV and/or DVD, and discourage these forms of entertainment (including video games) for at least an hour before bedtime so they are not overly stimulated.

Don’t let them eat or drink too much before bed. While a light snack can help prevent them from waking up hungry, too much liquid, on the other hand, might cause them to need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night – or worse still, wet the bed.

Other Signs To Watch Out For

Many children also exhibit emotional signs when they are overtired:

• Crying, usually for no reason
• Defiance, saying no, being stubborn
• Having a “hair-trigger” – that is, being overly sensitive, or getting aggressive or angry over the least little thing
• Meltdowns
• Rowdy or over-energetic behaviour
• “Sundowning” – becoming agitated and hyper as the day ends, from around 4 to 7 PM
• Tantrums

Children lacking sleep are overtired and therefore overly sensitive, and if they don’t rest, things can quickly escalate out of control.

As a parent, the best thing you can do apart from spotting the warning signs is to impose structure and routine and try not to deviate from it.

A set bedtime and wake-up time are crucial, so don’t let them wheedle you into staying up late too often.

At the weekends, try to stick to the same routine as you do during weekdays.

It may be tough, but a similar schedule even when you are on vacation can help, especially during the long summer holidays.

If the long days of summer might prevent your child from wanting to go to bed at their normal time, get some blackout curtains.

Don’t drag them to stores or other overly stimulating places in the afternoon.

Encourage a short rest when they get home from school.

Finally, try to find something they enjoy that will calm them down if they start to become agitated.

Tips For Dealing With Anxiety At Bedtime In Children

Getting children to go to sleep can be a challenge for most parents.

However, if your child starts to show anxiety about bedtime, or genuine fear, it’s time to get to the bottom of the cause and take action to help them get a healthy and restful sleep every night.

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