Forget about sex or sleep; for many parents it’s more like sleep or sanity.
If your kid is not getting enough sleep, your sanity suffers.
According to new research, a good night’s sleep is essential to keeping children on track.
That may be the understatement of the year.
For decades researchers having been touting studies that show well-rested children do better on standardized tests, get better grades and are better equipped to rationalize and control impulses. However, a new study, set to be published in next month’s issue of Pediatrics, takes the theory a step further by detailing what happened to children ages 7 to 11 years old after they lost just 27 minutes of sleep a night.
Two words: basket case.
Researchers in Canada say the young participants in their sleep study were more restless, frustrated, angry and emotionally volatile, when they were deprived of less than 11 hours of sleep per night.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, preschoolers (kids 3 to 5 years old) need 11-13 hours of sleep, while school-aged children (kids 6 to 12 years old) need approximately 10-11 hours of sleep.
Think about that for a minute. What time does your child drift off to dreamland? What time does he have to be up the next morning? Is he getting anywhere near the recommended amount of sleep? What changes to your daily routine would you need to make to ensure your school-aged child gets 10-11 hours of sleep at night?
If your kid needs to be awake by 6:30 a.m. in order to be dressed, fed and functioning before the school bus rolls up to the end of your driveway, then he would have to be sleeping (not brushing his teeth, putting on PJs, or having a pillow fight with his brother) by 8:00 p.m. sharp in order to get the recommended amount of shut-eye needed for him to avoid being a hot mess the next day.
According to the study’s authors, more than 60 percent of the school-aged children they studied didn’t go to bed earlier than 9 p.m. Could this be a sign of the times?
Given that most parents don’t get off of work until at least 5 p.m., and most kids are involved in at least one afterschool activity, it doesn’t seem reasonable that a child could get to bed earlier than 8 p.m. Even if a kid walked into his home right at 5, he would have a mere three hours to eat dinner, do homework, complete chores and maybe squeak in a few minutes of playtime before hitting the sack.
Still, experts recommend parents “prioritize bedtime” in order to improve a child’s health and performance.
What’s your take on the advice? Is it a case of being easier said than done?
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