Recently I was invited to ask a women’s health expert, Dr. Donnica, some questions about sleep habits. She put together a terrific video that I hope you will watch.
What I appreciated about this opportunity was the ability to ask questions specific to moms of teenagers. When our children are very young, there is a lot of focus on how moms lose sleep. But it doesn’t always get better when our children become teens.
In addition, teens have their own sleep issues that can interfere with their daily lives so I thought this was a great way to get some helpful tips.
One of the things Dr. Donnica mentions specifically is when your teen is out with the car. My 17-year-old son’s driving experience has been pretty limited so far and I have been grateful. He is just not much of a social butterfly, more of a homebody, and so I haven’t had to deal with it too much.
But the times he has driven, yes, it can be very difficult to not worry so I can’t imagine when the time comes and it’s later at night and he is driving. But like Dr. Donnica says, just because they are teens doesn’t mean they don’t need a regular bedtime. As with anything in parenting, she reminds us that consistency is important.
Now she does something in her house that I think is a great idea. She allows her teens to have a later bedtime, as long as they can get themselves up for school. If they aren’t able to, then she pushes their bedtime back.
I have to confess, I still wake all of my kids up. I think this upcoming school year I will put that responsibility on my children. I should have done this already with my oldest but now that he will be a senior in the fall, I really do need to have him learn responsibility with this.
She also mentions that teens actually need more sleep than younger children, yet we all know that most teens don’t get enough.
Dr. Donnica also addressed women going through perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms (raising my hand here). She provides a list through the video of healthy sleep habits that if you are doing these and are still having trouble sleeping, you may need to see a doctor.
I hope you have enjoyed this special video on sleep.
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