Lack of sleep is a big issue for kids
Some tips could help improve quality of rest
Kristi L. Nelson
In the 16 years she taught elementary school, Janna Fowler could always pick out the kids who didn't get enough sleep.
“They were very tired all day, often fell asleep in class, unable to focus, often emotional — cranky or whiny,” said Fowler, who taught kindergarten for 13 years and second grade for three. “There is a reason there are recommended sleep amounts for kids. … It's for the sanity of all of us: teachers, kids and parents!”
Fowler, who now owns All About Weddings, practices what she preached to other parents for years. Her twins, rising fifth-graders, have a summer sleep schedule where they stay up only 30 minutes later, on average.
“I move their bedtime back a little bit each night for the last week” of summer vacation, Fowler said. “I normally have them go to bed between 8 and 8:30 on a school night.”
With younger children, she said, that extra sleep time is especially critical to help them make it through a long school day.
“Back when I taught, we were allowed to have rest time after lunch during the day,” Fowler said “That is not the case anymore. The curriculum is such that that just cannot happen.”
Keep sleep space conducive to rest to encourage good habits
Science backs up Fowler's observa
tions, said Dr. Shannon Cohen, a pediatric hospitalist at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.
“Most children do not get nearly the amount of sleep they should have, in my experience — and adults, too,” Cohen said. “It affects their attention span negatively. They have more difficulty staying on task, more difficulty paying attention.”
Trouble focusing and organizing, problems with short-term memory, and irritability all can be indicators of too little sleep, Cohen said.
Sleep space should be dark, quiet, fairly cool — and free of electronics, she said.
Like Fowler, Cohen keeps her own minor children on approximately the same sleep schedule year-round. She forbids caffeine after noon, shuts off screen time an hour and a half before bedtime, and stashes phones and other personal devices in a place the kids can’t access.
“Get them an old-fashioned alarm clock,” she said. “They don’t need their phone.”
So, how much sleep do children really need?
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends:
❚ Ages 4 months-1 year: 12 to 16 hours daily (including naps).
❚ Ages 1-2 years: 11-14 hours daily (including naps).
❚ Ages 3-5 years: 10-13 hours daily (including naps).
❚ Ages 6-12 years: 9-12 hours daily.
❚ Ages 13-18 years: 8-10 hours daily. Cohen said parents who think their teens can thrive on six to seven hours of sleep a night are mistaken.
“Unfortunately, in our society, we devalue sleep,” said Dr. Ralph Lydic, anesthesiology professor at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine and Robert H. Cole Endowed Professor of Neuroscience at UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
“Sleep is an essential life-sustaining function. … The single best predictor of our daytime performance is the previous night’s sleep.”
Lydic, a prominent national researcher, has devoted his career to the study of sleep. Lack of it, he said, affects children — who are in a stage of rapid brain development — and adults differently. While an adult who has slept poorly or too little will feel sleepy and sluggish, young children who are overtired can become hyperactive, impulsive and poorly behaved.
Not only that, too little sleep can have effects on children’s physical health long-term, he said, affecting cardiovascular function and metabolism, and potentially leading to obesity and Type II diabetes, a growing problem among youth.
Parents also need to be aware of signs a child isn’t sleeping well — such as snoring, which can indicate sleep apnea.
Kentucky pediatric sleep specialist Dr. David Gozal published a 2008 study on the effects of sleep apnea on children’s developing nervous system. Gozal studied children struggling in a public school, identifying some as having sleep apnea caused by swollen tonsils blocking their airway.
After tonsillectomies, he reported, the children’s sleep improved — and their grade-point averages did, too.
Lydic noted that there’s not similar evidence connecting lack of sleep in teens with depression and mentalhealth issues, but “those associations are hinted at.”
“It’s a huge problem for many of us in the teenage years … devaluing one’s self,” he said.
Teens’ changing circadian rhythms — when they’re wide awake and ready to engage at night, then have difficulty waking up in the morning — can make it especially challenging to ensure they’re getting enough sleep, he said.
He suggests developing a standard bedtime as a “family project,” such as some families have done with changes to eating habits.