High-quality sleep may be the lowest-estimated factor in good physical and mental health in humans. It is particularly observed that over the past 30 to 40 years, we have begun to have less importance to sleep. This is largely due to the fast-paced world of usually wanting to do more rhythm and wanting to catch up with everything.
The importance of children’s sleep
Sleep is crucial for the growth of a child’s body, mind and immune system. Small proteins (such as cytokines) are produced during sleep time. These cytokines are crucial to combating diseases and infections and are essential to building the immune system. During the sleep cycle, many growth hormones are also produced, which promotes the growth of height, bones, muscles and cognitive functions.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that people at different stages of their life use the following sleep (including naps):
- Newborn 14-17 hours (0-3 months)
- Infant 12-15 hours (4-11 months)
- Children 11-14 hours (1-2 years)
- Preschool children 10-13 hours (3-5 years)
- 9-11 hours for primary school students (6-13 years old)
- Teenagers 8-10 hours (14-17 years old)
- 7-9 hours for adults (18-64 years)
Less sleep can lead to less energy, impulsiveness, aggressiveness, anxiety, and failure to 100% on any activity in children and even adults. Deficiency of sleep can affect children’s behavior and performance inside and outside the classroom, and indirectly have a huge impact on their self-image and self-confidence.
Another aspect of sleep has a huge impact on life is self-regulation. Enough sleep leads to better self-regulation, which leads to improved discipline and emotional regulation. People with good sleep often feel better and are able to manage their emotions and impulses more effectively, thus exchanging short-term gains for long-term gains.
What can parents do to help their children get quality sleep?
Parents and guardians can help children practice good sleep hygiene. The following are:
- Keep the bedroom comfortable, clean, dark and quiet. Without any electronic devices around, it will only cause expensive interference to your sleep.
- Ensure a consistent sleep schedule for all days of the week, including weekends.
- Avoid very full meals before going to bed. When the body digests a hearty meal, the body’s sleep cycle will be disturbed. It takes at least 2-3 hours between meals and go to bed.
- Blue light from electronic devices negatively affects the release of melatonin, the hormone that regulates the sleep cycle.
- Get plenty of natural light during the day – Encourage your child to get as much natural light as possible. Bright light inhibits melatonin, making children feel awake and alert during the day, causing them to become sleepy at night after sunset.
- Avoid Caffeine – Avoid coffee, energy drinks, cola, chocolate, tea and caffeine foods, which will help children and adults better regulate their sleep cycles.
- Avoid horrible TV shows, movies and games at night. Children should feel safe during sleep time, otherwise they will feel very anxious about their safety. For some kids, it’s best to avoid performances and frightening movies.
- Night lights and music can help – Night lights can help children feel safe in darker rooms, while gentle music can also help some children fall asleep.
- Soft toys can help some people – having some soft toys can help some kids fall asleep while embracing the soft toys and feeling the warmth of the bed.
- Encourage deep physical and cognitive activities during the day – Encourage children to exercise physically, such as gardening, gymnastics, football, cooking, psychological math, and more.
Hope this is useful, thank you for reading.
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