How to Help Tech Loving Kids Get the Sleep They Need!
We’ve heard it a million times, sleep is critical for our mental and physical wellbeing. Yet the latest research shows that sleep quality and quantity has been steadily decreasing over the past 10-15 years and it seems sleep still isn’t getting the respect that it deserves.
Many studies have shown that younger children who don’t get enough sleep are at risk for more behavioral issues, health problems, higher BMI and problems at school. While teens who consistently do not get enough sleep are additionally at risk for depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation.
Now there are many factors that can get in the way of good sleep - hectic late schedules, too much homework, a high sugar diet, caffeine, medications, stress etc. But for the purposes of this article I am focusing on the impact of our electronics on the quality of our children’s sleep.
It will come as no surprise to most of you that our devices and our children’s use of media is one of the big culprits for our less than stellar sleep habits. Many studies have been done on the effects of electronics on quality of sleep. It has been consistently found that the blue light that is emitted from televisions, computers, phones and tablets disrupts the release of melatonin - a hormone critical to the regulation of our sleep cycles. It has also been posited that nightly exposure to the stimulating content, bright colors and engaging sounds of media keep our brains busy and excited when they should be winding down and disengaging.
In this article I want to share with you information on how much sleep our kids should be getting at different ages and stages along with some tips on how to help them get there.
First let’s look at why sleep is so important. According to the National Institute of Health, “Without sleep you can’t form or maintain the pathways in your brain that let you learn and create new memories, and it’s harder to concentrate and respond quickly. Sleep affects almost every type of tissue and system in the body – from the brain, heart, and lungs to metabolism, immune function, mood, and disease resistance. Research shows that a chronic lack of sleep, or getting poor quality sleep, increases the risk of disorders including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, and obesity.”
As important as good consistent sleep is for adults, it is even more crucial for kids who are doing the intense work of growing! So let’s look at how much sleep school aged kids need. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has the following sleep recommendations for “optimal health”
Children 6 to 12 years old: 9 to 12 hours per night
Teens 13 to 18 years old: 8 to 10 hours per night
According to recent findings from the CDC, in middle school students in the United States about 6 out of 10 kids (57.8%) are getting less than the minimum recommended 9 hours of sleep per night on school nights. And in high school students the numbers jump to 7 out of 10 kids (72.7%) getting less than the minimum recommendation of 8 hours.
This is really concerning because truly, every hour counts and cumulatively this sleep deficit adds up.
So what should we do? It certainly gets more difficult as kids get older. Teenagers’ bodies change and with that so do their circadian rhythms which dictate their sleep needs. Teenagers naturally stay up later and sleep later in the mornings. On top of that, it’s much harder to police what teens are doing in their bedrooms late at night.
One key is to start with healthy habits when our kids are younger and teach our children about the many benefits of a good night of sleep. Additionally, when it comes to kids and devices there are definitely choices that we can make as parents that will help with good sleep hygiene.
For our younger kids up to 13 years old:
Create a very clear bedtime and wake up time that guarantees them the minimum amount of hours that their body needs for their age.
Have a consistent bedtime routine that starts 30 - 45 min before lights out. This can include reading, quiet activities like drawing or journaling in bed, a light snack and some one on one hang out time with parents.
The more your child moves during the day, the more tired they’ll be so try to encourage exercise.
Start dimming lights about 30 min before bedtime - around the house and in the bedrooms - this helps the brain adjust and release melatonin.
Avoid electronics - including tv - in the 30 minutes before bedtime to allow the brain to adjust to lower light and less stimulation.
Keep all electronics out of the bedroom. Sleep quality is negatively affected by devices in the bedroom. It is worse if they are on all night, but there is still an impact even when they are off.
For kids who want a story, podcast or mediation app at bedtime you can use screen free options like an Alexa or other assistant from Apple or Google, or connect your phone to a bluetooth speaker so the device itself doesn’t need to be by the bedside.
For teenagers:
It’s really important with teenagers to try to get some buy-in. Just setting rules and walking away often doesn’t work as well once kids get to this age. They want to be able to come to certain conclusions and decisions for themselves. That doesn’t mean that you can’t have house rules, but it’s important to really listen to their concerns and needs and have a meaningful conversation about what sleep means for them;how they feel when they don’t sleep enough; and how they would ideally like to feel on a daily basis. That said, here are some suggestions to try to nudge our teens in the right direction:
Try to help teens manage their after school time so that they are not up til the wee hours doing their homework.
Establish a bedtime that is reasonable and gets your child the right amount of sleep on school nights - even if it’s later than it used to be. Eg. if your child needs to wake up at 6:30am they should aim to have lights out by 10:30pm.
Try to get them to lower their lights in the bedroom in the hour before bedtime.
Talk to them about the real consequences of lack of sleep. Insist on no phones in the bedroom overnight, but listen with empathy to their concerns over “missing out” if they don’t have their phone with them.
Teach teens to turn their phone to “Do Not Disturb” at bedtime.
Encourage them to read, journal, draw or do some other quiet and calm activity in bed before turning out their lights.
Talk to teens about whether they’d like to block certain social media apps for themselves at night so that they don’t end up mindlessly scrolling for hours instead of sleeping.
Now, once you’ve got your kids’ sleep in a good place don’t forget about your own! Parenting is stressful and it’s that much more difficult when we are sleep deprived. Many of the strategies outlined here for our kids are just as useful for adults. Plus, when you care about your own sleep and prioritize it you are setting a great example for your child. When everyone is sleeping well life just goes more smoothly, and given how exhausting the job of parenting can be, I think it’s worth the little extra effort to get those Zzzzzs.
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3296786/
3. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/features/students-sleep.htm