Is Your Child Getting Enough Sleep?

What your kids do during the night has a huge impact on their daily lives.

Sleep plays a key role in mental, physical and emotional health, from infancy through teen years.

Now, experts at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine have reviewed the research and arrived at a target slumber number for each age group.

Healthy Rest Offers Many Rewards

New guidelines published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine advise the following daily sleep totals:

• 4 to 12 months: 12 to 16 hours
  
• 1 to 2 years: 11 to 14 hours
  
• 3 to 5 years: 10 to 13 hours
  
• 6 to 12 years: 9 to 12 hours
  
• 13 to 18 years: 8 to 10 hours
  

“The right amount of sleep helps kids learn well, behave and feel happy,” says Lewis Milrod, M.D., director of Pediatric Sleep Medicine and a neurologist at K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital.

“Adequate rest also wards off health problems like high blood pressure, extra weight and heart issues.”

It's normal for kids to resist  bedtime. Help ease them into a healthy sleep routine by remembering the following guidelines.

• Modeling: Kids learn by watching you. Show them you value sleep and they’ll start to understand its importance.
• Routines: “Keep sleep, waking, naps and play around the same time every day,” advises Dr. Milrod. “And develop soothing night time rituals, such as reading.”
  
• Screen-Free Time: Ban phones, TVs and tablets from kids’ bedrooms.

"Make it a rule to shut them down at least 30 minutes before bedtime," Dr. Milrod says.

Fighting Fatigue

We all have them now and then, those days when it seems like we’re dragging a tractor behind us - from the moment we step out the door.

While healthy lifestyle choices such as daily exercise and proper nutrition are still the most effective tools for combating daytime fatigue, finding yourself continually tired through the day could also be a compelling case for sleep apnea – a potentially life-threatening disorder characterized by interrupted breathing patterns during sleep.

Sam Bebawy, M.D., Bayshore Community Hospital, who specializes in pulmonary disease and sleep medicine, recommends that anyone struggling with daytime sleepiness, excessive snoring and/or unexplained tiredness talk to their doctor about scheduling a sleep study. This non-invasive, overnight exam utilizes electrodes to monitor key elements of sleep impacted by sleep apnea, including sleep stages, breathing rate, snoring and sleep disturbances.

 “Sleep apnea that is not treated can increase the risk for cardiovascular disease, especially heart attack and stroke,” Dr. Bebawy says. “Not only are you making the patient feel good by treating it, you are preventing a serious condition from setting in or getting worse.”

Read more about sleep apnea, Dr. Bebawy, and one patient's sleep study experience in the May/June edition of Hackensack Meridian HealthViews.

Join us for 'Power of an Hour' Nov. 5 at Freehold Raceway Mall

It’s the gift that comes once a year - an extra hour of precious sleep. You’ll hear few complaints when that biannual ritual known as daylight savings time comes to a close, but if you are truly looking to wake up refreshed with more energy to face the day, you might want to rethink spending that extra hour in bed once the sun comes up.

Join us at Freehold Raceway Mall on Saturday, November 5 from 9 a.m. to noon for our second annual Power of an Hour event. This interactive and fun event is designed to help you maximize that extra hour of sleep, so you can wake to a brighter tomorrow.

From nutrition tips and relaxation techniques, to designing a healthy sleep environment, our sleep experts will share the tools and latest advances in sleep medicine that will help you seize the night…so you can seize the day. This event is free, so register today by calling 1-800-DOCTORS.

Register here, and for more information, please visit: MeridianHealth.com/TunedIntoYourHealth.

Feeling short-changed on shut eye? You're not alone.

Short-changed on shut eye? You're not alone, as more than 83 million Americans are now reported to be lacking sleep.

While some may be worried about "sleeping their life away," a new study finds that about one-third of Americans have the opposite problem, snoozing less than the recommended seven hours per night.

And while the resulting drowsiness can contribute to accidents, anxiety, depression and lost productivity, the less immediate health effects raise even greater cause for concern.

“Overtime, lack of sleep alters your hormones and metabolism, increasing your risk for diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease,” says Jeffrey Miskoff, D.O., a pulmonologist at Jersey Shore University Medical Center.

To find out where you and the sandman stand, try keeping a 10-day sleep journal. Be sure to log when you fall asleep and wake up, and include any naps as well. And don't forget to discuss your sleep habits with your doctor.

“Fall back” without falling back

It’s the gift that comes once a year—an extra hour of precious sleep.

You’ll hear few complaints when that biannual agrarian ritual known as daylight savings time comes to a close at 2 a.m., Sunday, November 1.

But if you are truly looking to wake up refreshed with more energy to face the day, you might want to rethink spending that extra hour in bed once the sun comes up.

"There is a clock in your brain. That clock keeps your internal environment in sync with your eternal environment, and the most important signal for that clock is the light," says Carol Ash, D.O., Director of Sleep Medicine for Meridian Health. “That internal clock isn't flexible enough to adjust quickly to the time jump,” she said.

If you truly want to maximize the benefits of that extra hour, the tried and true rules of healthy sleep still apply: Go to bed at a reasonable hour, get the best sleep you can, and get up when the sun comes up.

When it comes to "resetting" that internal clock, Dr. Ash recommends natural, cost effective alternatives to over-the-counter sleep medications, which she calls "short term solutions to recurring problems."

One potential remedy Dr. Ash lists is mindful breathing, an elegant solution for alleviating stress and achieving deep rest.

Dr. Ash adds that by making just a few changes to adapt the right sleep habits, you can create the feeling of having an extra hour not just once a year—but every day.  

On November 7 at The Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank, Dr. Ash and a team of Meridian Health experts will present “The Power of an Hour,” a morning devoted to helping you sleep better, eat better, stress less, and develop lifelong habits to create a healthier, better-rested you!

Learn more and register for our Power of an Hour event here.

Decoding Your Dreams

Carol Ash, D.O., director of Sleep Medicine for Meridian Health, recently stopped by the Fox & Friends studio to discuss the meaning behind some of our most common dream-time scenarios, including being chased, being cheated on by a partner, and more.

So what do they all mean? Watch Dr. Carol Ash on Fox & Friends below and find out! Be sure to visit MeridianHealth.com/Sleep to learn more about the Meridian Centers for Sleep Medicine.

Test Your Sleep IQ

A healthy night's sleep — we all know we need it, but not all of us get it. When we're under pressure and time is of the essence, it's the first thing we're willing to sacrifice to get the job done. 

Few of us would think twice about burning the midnight oil for the sake of productivity. But at what cost?

How much does a healthy night's sleep really matter? Take the quiz below and find out!

1. Rapid eye movement (REM) is the deepest stage of sleep, when most dreaming occurs. On average, how frequently does REM occur throughout the night? a.)  4 times
   b.)  3 times
   c.)  2 times
   d.)  1 time

Take the rest of the quiz here!

In Defense of Mondays

You can't avoid it. You know it's coming - just like it has a thousand times before and will a thousand more.

But do Mondays get a bum rap?

We all know how it feels: You're sluggish. You're irritable. You can't focus...

Wait, don't we know those symptoms from somewhere else?

What if  "the Mondays" aren't a condition, but a symptom themselves?

Here's a hint: When was the last time you were out of bed and out the door by 7 a.m. - on a Sunday?

Who doesn't love staying up, and sleeping in a bit later on weekends? But, according to Meridian Health Director of Sleep Medicine Dr. Carol Ash, maintaining the same bedtime and wake-up time every day - yes, even weekends - helps keep your internal clock balanced and properly wound.

But if you're consistently throwing off your body's internal rhythm when weekends hit, don't be surprised to feel your chains grinding when it's time to shift back into high gear - a.k.a., Monday morning.

So, next time someone at the office complains about "the Mondays," smile and remind them that the world gave us YouTube, the Jackson 5 and Kermit the Frog all on a Monday.

And than invite them over for Sunday coffee - at 6 a.m. sharp.