Showing posts with label child sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label child sleep. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Health Experts: A shut-eye starved child is nothing to sleep on

A good night's sleep is as important to your child as a hearty breakfast. Without enough shut-eye, children are more likely to struggle with their school studies, do poorly on the playing field, and suffer depression.

According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), children are getting less than the recommended amount of sleep over a 24-hour period. This can make it tough for your child to solve problems and memorize lessons, which can lower grades and self-esteem.

Sleep-starved kids are also more easily frustrated and fidgety. A child's sleep trouble affects the whole family. Parents who are up coaxing a child to bed are robbed of their own valuable sleep.

The best cure is a consistent bedtime schedule. Stick to a bedtime that permits this amount of nightly sleep:
  • 11 to 13 hours for a 3- to 5-year-old child. Preschoolers often have difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. Children this age also are more likely to have nightmares and sleep terrors, and to sleepwalk.
  • 10 to 11 hours for a school-aged child. Schoolchildren spend time with TV, computers, and the Internet, all of which can erode time for sleep. This age group also may be drinking caffeinated beverages that can affect the ease of falling asleep at night. Watching TV just before bedtime may make it more difficult to fall asleep and may create resistance or anxiety about bedtime. Too little sleep can lead to mood swings, and behavioral and cognitive problems.
If the current bedtime for your child is too late, move it 15 minutes earlier each night, until you reach the desired bedtime. Tuck resisters back into their own beds, promptly and repeatedly, until they get the message that you expect them to get to sleep on their own.

Sound Advice for Sound Sleep

  • Unplug : Turn off TVs, computers, and cell phones. Better yet, keep such things out of the bedroom, which should be a stimulation-free zone.
  • Wind down: Start the transition to sleep with dimmed lights and a warm bath; end with reading a book. Avoid watching TV just before bedtime.
  • Decaffeinate: Drinking any caffeine during the day can affect sound sleep. Caffeine is found not just in coffee and cola, but also in tea and chocolate.
  • Decompress: Overbooked kids who rush from band practice to dance class to dinner to homework may be too keyed up at bedtime to unwind. Experts recommend one activity per season.
  • Get help: If, despite these measures, your child still resists bedtime, has nighttime awakenings, or snores, talk with your doctor.
The sleep experts at Hackensack Meridian Health K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital can help determine if your child has a sleep disorder, or another type of neurological condition. Hackensack Meridian Health K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital offers the region's first pediatric sleep program, backed by research and dedication from our physicians and nurses. Learn more here.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Get Your New Year Off to a Healthy Start with Our Top Stories of 2014

Another year, another step toward a healthier you. Health and wellness topics were hotter than ever in 2014, a year of breakthroughs, outbreaks and trends that had people all over the world talking. So what did we learn in 2014? Read on for some of the year's top health advice from Meridian experts.

  1. Sleep Disorders Are No Walk in the Park

    Red Sox first baseman Mike Napoli's decision to undergo surgery to treat his sleep apnea was yet another call to action for public discourse on the seriousness of the ongoing struggle roughly 18 million Americans have with this potentially life threatening disorder, characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep. Read the full article here.

  2.  Do Our Kids Need More Sleep?

    Meridian Health Director of Sleep Medicine Dr. Carol Ash took on this hot-button issue during a visit to CBS This Morning. Hear what she had to say here.

  3. What's Making Us So Tired?

    On a visit to the TODAY Show, Dr. Carol Ash joined Julie Bain, Health Director of the Ladies Home Journal to discuss answers to the commonly posed health question, "Why am I so tired?" Listing common causes that include diet and stress, both Ash and Bain agreed that most cases of daytime fatigue can be remedied with adjustments to both habit and lifestyle. Watch the full clip here.

  4. Sleeping Apart Could Boost Mind, Body and Relationship

    He likes it cold; she likes it hot. She's a mover and a shaker; he's down for the count. Opposites may attract, but when it's time to call it a night, some differences come at a cost. It sounds extreme, but on an episode of "The Doctors," Dr. Carol Ash discussed how sleeping separately from your partner could provide a healthier night's sleep all around. Read all about it here.

  5. Healthy Sleep Impacts School Performance

    According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), two-thirds of American children age 10 and younger have sleep problems. They noted 60 percent of children under the age of 18 complained of being tired during the day, and 15 percent fell asleep at school. So what can a parent do? Read on to find out.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Healthy Sleep Habits Can Optimize Your Child’s School Performance

Carol Ash, M.D.
Director of Sleep Medicine
Meridian Health

For many parents summer means relaxing and letting go of rules. Our kids have spent summer hanging out enjoying time with friends and family, staying up late and sleeping in. The days are getting shorter, and the end of summer is here which means parents and kids will need to prepare for the transition back to school.

In a recent Proctor and Gamble and ORC International Survey 93 percent of moms said they face challenges preparing for back to school. Nearly half (47 percent) of the moms surveyed said the “biggest pain point” was getting kids back to a regimented sleep pattern and a set schedule.

Getting kids back on schedule and out the door to school and activities is not just a “big pain point” for moms.

Inadequate or poor quality sleep will affect a child’s development, and has been linked to emotional instability, poor school performance, and serious health issues such as childhood obesity, diabetes, and missed school days from infections.  It has been linked to risky behaviors such as drowsy driving, alcohol and tobacco abuse. 


According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) two-thirds of American children age 10 and younger have sleep problems.  They noted 60 percent of children under the age of 18 complained of being tired during the day, and 15 percent fell asleep at school.
Despite increasing awareness of the importance of sleep, and the prevalence of the problem, shopping for new school supplies and preseason sports still gets the most attention.

Most sleep problems are treatable, and for many all that is required is adopting good bedtime habits.  A Back to School Sleep (BTS) sleep check list would make the transition easier and get our kids off to a good start. 

BTS Sleep check list

1. Get the right amount. The NSF recommends:
  • 11-13 hours of sleep for preschoolers age 3-5
  • 10-11 hours of sleep for 5 to 12 year olds
  • 9 hours or more for teens

2. Start the shift early. Prior to school start sleep experts recommend gradually getting back to a school year sleep schedule by moving bedtime up 15 minutes a night.

3. Don’t let them sleep in. For those that didn’t start this early, you should now focus on maintaining the same wake-up time on weekends. This will help set your child’s internal clock. Eventually it will make getting them to bed at night easier.

4. A 20 min nap will help until the transition is complete. Most kids older than five no longer need to nap. A 20-minute nap after school can help during the transition if bedtime is a struggle.

5. Make sure the room is quiet, dark, cool, and uncluttered. Bold colors and flashy décor might be a great fashion statement but you want a serene sanctuary.

6. Remove all electronics from the room. NSF found children who get more sleep are more likely to read as part of their bedtime routine.

7. Sleep training books are great for younger kids. 
"Getting Your Toddler to Go to Sleep and Stay in Bed," by Jill Spivack and Jennifer Waldburger, Sleepy Pl

8. Try a sleep gadget. Even for kids intrusive thoughts and worries about the day may can keep them up at night.

Gadgets such as "Deep Sleep" will teach them mediation and help them learn how to unwind and relax. Deep Sleep with Andrew Johnson is available for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store.