Turns out your mom was right all along. Army Medicine asks you to remember what Mom said and create better sleep habits for your family and to start with your children.
When children learn good sleep habits, those habits can last a lifetime. What exactly are the sleep needs for adolescents and teens? How should parents encourage them to develop better sleep habits?
According to the National Sleep Foundation, children aged 5 to 12 need 10 to 11 hours of sleep. At that age, demands for homework, sports, and social activities are increasing. Very likely, adolescents are focused on television, computers, and the Internet; they also consume products containing caffeine. Combined, these things interfere with good sleep habits. Watching television and the use of personal electronic devices right before bed can especially be a misery for parents, leading to bedtime struggles, sleep anxiety, and fewer hours sleeping.
Poor or inadequate sleep in adolescence leads to poor moods in association with behavioral problems, and a negative effect on learning in school.
What should parents do to help develop good sleep habits for their adolescents? The National Sleep Foundation has the following recommendations:
• Reinforce the need with your school-aged children to develop healthy sleep habits.
• Emphasize need for regular and consistent sleep schedule and bedtime routine.
• Encourage sleep by keeping the kid's bedroom dark, cool, and quiet.
• Keep television and computers out of the bedroom.
• Monitor caffeine consumption.
Teens fall into a special category when it comes to sleep. They are often overwhelmed by school, sports, social interaction, and family demands. Parents need to focus on their teen's sleep habits as much as and perhaps more than any other age group of their children. Most parents of teens do not need to be told how combative and moody teens can be. Yet, teens who do not get enough sleep can be even more moody than normal, have conflict with friends and family, and struggle academically. According to the National Sleep Foundation, most teens need more than 9 hours of sleep each night. Teens, on average, do not get enough sleep, however; one study found that only 15 percent of teens reported sleeping at least 8 1/2 hours on school nights, and overall 70 percent of teens do not get enough sleep.
It is perfectly normal for teens to have sleep habits that frustrate parents. During adolescence and teen years, sleep habits naturally shift toward later times for both sleeping and waking; some teens cannot fall asleep before 11 p.m.
Teens may have sleep habits that vary on different days of the week; they typically stay up late during the week when allowed to and sleep late on the weekends. Such habits hurt their quality of sleep.
You may already have a debate in your community regarding later school start times for teens. According to an article on the Scientific American website, later school times improve academic performance, increase attendance, reduce teen depression, and decrease the number of student drivers involved in car crashes.
Lack of sleep can be downright dangerous when teens get behind the wheel. Drowsiness and falling asleep while driving are factors in more than 100,000 car crashes every year. A National Sleep Foundation survey found that 15 percent of drivers in grades 10 to 12 reported driving drowsy at least once a week. These drivers are at high risk to be in an accident.
What should you do to encourage your teens to do to improve sleep quality? The National Sleep Association also has these recommendations for parents to help teens get better sleep:
• Keep the teen's bedroom cool, dark, and quiet.
• Cut out the caffeine after dinner.
• Establish bed and wake up times and encourage teens to follow them, even on weekends to help teens feel less tired.
• Avoid the television, computer, and cell phone for one hour before bedtime.
• Limit eating or exercise close to bedtime.
• Make sure homework is not left for the last minute.
Note that getting the children to bed on time allows a benefit for the parents as well. They, too, can go to sleep earlier, improving their own mental fitness and resilience.
So Mom was right all along; it's time to bring back her advice. Next time, you'll listen more closely to what Mom says.
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