Summer is winding down. Here’s how to get your student on a better sleep schedule.
Health experts say that sleep is just as important as exercise and nutrition when it comes to children’s ability to learn and grow.
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It may be time for parents to start getting their children’s sleep schedules back on track as summer winds down and the new school year approaches.
“[Sleep is] just as important as exercise and nutrition when it comes to children’s ability to learn and grow and thrive,” says Dr. Caroline Weingart, a pediatrician with Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Weingart says that if a child’s sleep routine was derailed during the summer, it's not too late to reset it before school starts back up. She suggests gradually making their bedtime earlier.
"Moving the bedtime up 15 minutes every night for one to two weeks until they're going to bed at the time that they'll be going to bed during the school year is one way to get them back on a normal sleep schedule,” Weingart says.
She says to make sure all phones and electronic devices are put away, ideally at least an hour before bed, in order to get the child’s brain into sleep mode.
Weingart also says to focus on what time students wake up. She says to have them start getting out of bed at the time they need to for school. And while it is OK to sleep in a little on weekends, Weingart says to make sure they wake up within an hour of when they would normally get out of bed during the week.
"So, if they normally get up at 6:30 a.m. during the school week, get them up by about 7:30 a.m. on the weekend, if possible, just to make it a little bit easier come Sunday night when it's time for them to go to bed,” Weingart says.
She also says that children should avoid naps during the day if possible. She says that if they must nap, to make sure it is no more than 20 minutes a day, and that it doesn’t happen late in the evening.
