Time Change!
At 2 AM on Sunday morning, time changes. Our clocks "spring forward" and we put aside an hour for until the hour is returned in the fall.
Click here for background on why we do such things.
Click here for time change parent help.
When we lose an hour this weekend, this has a natural impact on children's bodies. This is a good moment to think again about sleep.
We need to sleep, but just how many hours do children need?
- Preschool: 11-12 hours
- Ages 6-9: 10 hours
- Ages 10-12: 9-11 hours
- Ages 13-20: No less than 9 hours !
I suspect those numbers are higher than you thought. Many of us think about 8 hours of sleep as the goal. That is actually the adult goal. Almost all children need well over nine hours a night. This means that if children must wake at 6:30 AM, bedtime is 9 PM or before.
Teens and Pre-teens have special sleep needs and struggles.
Keep in mind that as adolescents progress through puberty, they actually need more sleep, not less, due to the rapid growth their bodies are experiencing. At the same time, because teens often have schedules packed with school and activities, they're typically sleep deprived. Still further, sleep deprivation adds up over time, so an hour less per night is like a full night without sleep by the end of the week!
Needless to say, sleep deprived children do not do well at school.
Among other things, sleep deprivation can lead to:
- inattentiveness & distraction
- forgetfulness
- inconsistent performance and lack of resilience & stamina
- Note: more than half of "asleep at the wheel" car accidents are caused by teens.
- headaches and body aches
- irritation and short tempers - or possibly feelings of depression
- lack of emotional and physical self control
To make matters more difficult, adolescents also typically experience disruption in their sleep patterns — their bodies want to stay up late and wake up later, which often leads to them trying to catch up on sleep during the weekend. Also, many teens and pre-teens will wake up in the night (while parents are sleeping) and lie awake reading or using a device if they have one handy - for quite some time. This sleep schedule irregularity can actually aggravate the problems and make getting to sleep at a reasonable hour during the week even harder.
What makes for a good night's sleep?
Ideally, a teenager should try to go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning, allowing for at least 8 to 9 hours of sleep. And it is worth repeating, that computers and laptops should ALWAYS be in a family area (not the bedroom) and phone and other devices should be checked in with parents at bedtime.